LIV Golf CEO reveals how much money Tiger Woods turned down from LIV Golf.
Golf superstar Tiger Woods turned down nearly $800 million to play for the controversial Saudi Arabia-backed LIV Golf, according to tour CEO Greg Norman.
It was known that the new league had made offers to Woods, but the number was not revealed until Monday during an interview with Fox News’s Tucker Carlson.
“Look, Tiger is a needle mover, right?” Norman told Carlson last night. “So, of course you’ve got to look at the best of the best. They had originally approached Tiger before I became CEO. That number is somewhere in that [$700-800 million] neighborhood.”
The new tour has pulled many big name golfers away from the PGA Tour with promises of hefty checks—creating tremendous tension in the world of golf. For example, LIV will pay Phil Mickelson $200 million to play in the tour, which is nearly double what legend Tiger Woods has earned in prize money during his entire career. LIV gave the world’s number-one golfer Dustin Johnson a four-year, $125 million contract, double his lifetime earnings of $74 million.
Along with players, LIV has also been adding some big names to its broadcast team. In recent weeks popular golf commentator David Feherty joined the startup tour as a broadcast analyst. Reports say Gary McCord could soon be the newest member of LIV’s media team.
The 15-time major champion Woods has not been the same since a devastating automobile accident, but his popularity still would have made him the upstart tour’s biggest prize. Woods said prior to last month’s British Open that he doesn’t support players joining the LIV Series and compared the circuit to the senior Champions Tour, according to the Dailywire.
“I think that what they’ve done is they’ve turned their back on what has allowed them to get to this position,” Woods said.
Forbes estimates Woods wealth at more than $1 billion, with $120 million generated in prize money. Woods is one of just three billionaire athletes, along with LeBron James and Michael Jordan.
The fledgling tour held a three-day, 54-hole event at Trump National in Bedminster, New Jersey, over the weekend, with Henrik Stenson winning the $4-million top prize.