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The rumors, it seems, were true. Not only was Tiger Woods offered a ransom to leave the PGA Tour and join LIV Golf, but he turned down roughly three-quarters of a billion dollars to do so.
LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman confirmed this week on Fox News that Woods turned down somewhere in the neighborhood of $700 million or $800 million to flip the script on the PGA Tour.
“That number was out there before I became CEO,” Norman said. “Well, that number was out there, yes. And look, Tiger is needle-like, right? Well, of course you’re going to look at the best of the best. So, they had originally approached Tiger before I became CEO. So, yes, that [offer was] somewhere in that neighborhood.”
Previously, Norman had not confirmed a specific number, just saying that LIV’s offer to Woods was in the “high nine figures.”
It was recently announced that Woods has crossed the threshold to become a billionaireso he didn’t necessarily need another $750 million, still an impressive number that is not only offered but rejected. He would also have multiplied his career PGA Tour earnings by a healthy factor.
Woods has earned $120.9 million on the PGA Tour. All the other money he’s earned comes from off-track endorsements.
It was smart of LIV to offer Woods that much money, and there probably isn’t a number too high that wouldn’t be worth it to the league as long as its goal is still to upgrade the PGA Tour and DP World Tour. world’s premier golf tour. The players needed to make that happen — the Justin Thomases, Rory McIlroys, Jordan Spieths and Scottie Scheflers — grew up idolizing Woods. Even if Woods moving to LIV didn’t completely convince them to take the leap, it would at least make them think twice.
Tiger, however, never seems to have given much thought to accepting the offer. When asked last month at The Open Championship about everyone moving to LIV, he was confused by the idea, especially considering that LIV players don’t currently receive Official World Golf Ranking points, which may prevent them from play in future major leagues.
“The players that chose to go to LIV and … play there, I disagree with that,” Woods said. “I think what they’ve done is they’ve turned their backs on what allowed them to get to this position. Some players never had a chance to experience that. This organization and I never really had a chance to play here and how it’s playing a tour schedule or playing some big events.
“And who knows what will happen in the near future with world ranking points, the criteria for entry into major leagues. The governing body should understand that. Some of these players may never have the opportunity to play in majors major leagues. That’s a possibility. We don’t know for sure yet. It’s up to all the major league players to decide. But that’s a possibility that some players will never, ever get a chance to play in a major league, don’t you ever get the chance to experience this here, walk the fairways of Augusta National.
“That, to me, I just don’t understand.”
The irony here is that Woods no longer needs his OWGR self to play major leagues. As a winner of all four majors, the 46-year-old is exempt from The Open and the PGA Championship until he is 60 and is exempt from the Masters for life. His exemption from the US Open is valid for one more year, and he will almost certainly receive more exemptions from the USGA after that.
“But what these players do for guaranteed money, what’s the incentive to practice?” Woods said. “What’s the incentive to go out there and win them on clay? You just get paid a lot of money up front and play some events and play 54 holes. They play loud music and have all these atmospheres that are different.
“I just don’t see how this move is positive in the long term for many of these players, especially if the LIV organization doesn’t get world ranking points and the major leagues change their criteria for participating in events. Sad to see some of these young kids never have the opportunity to live and experience what we have the opportunity to live and walk on these hallowed grounds and play in these championships.”
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