Tiger Woods rejected LIV Golf’s approach when offered in the “neighbourhood” of $700 million to $800 million, Greg Norman has confirmed.
Norman, speaking on Tucker Carlson Tonight, revealed the talks begun before he was named CEO and commissioner of the rebel tour.
Woods has emerged as the sport’s most outspoken supporter of the PGA Tour during the civil war that has emerged this year with LIV Golf, siding with the R&A at The Open in St Andrews for not inviting Norman, a two-time Open champion, to the 150th celebration.
And Norman has now opened up on talks to land golf’s biggest name, previously labelling the offer as “mind-blowingly enormous; we’re talking about high nine digits.”
“That number was out there before I became CEO. So that number has been out there, yes,” Norman said in the Fox News interview at Trump National in Bedminster, New Jersey, during the third LIV Golf Invitational.
“And, look, Tiger is a needle-mover and of course you have to look at the best of the best,” Norman said. “So they had originally approached Tiger before I became CEO. So, yes, that number was somewhere in that neighborhood.”
LIV Golf has shaken up golf with enormous offers to some of the best players in the world, with Phil Mickelson reportedly receiving a $200 million signing bonus and Dustin Johnson taking $150 million.
But any hopes of landing Woods appear gone, with the 46-year-old criticising Norman last month.
“The R&A obviously have their opinions and their rulings and their decision,” Woods said. “Greg has done some things that I don’t think is in the best interest of our game, and we’re coming back to probably the most historic and traditional place in our sport. I believe it’s the right thing.
“I disagree with it. I think that what they’ve done is they’ve turned their back on what has allowed them to get to this position.”
Norman further criticised the PGA Tour in the interview, adding: “It’s a monopoly.
“They just want to shut us down whatever way they can, so they’ll use whatever leverage point they can to shut us down, and they’re not. They’re not going to shut us down because the product speaks for itself.
“[Corporate sponsors dropping players who have defected to LIV Golf] blows my mind. Sponsors, by the way, who spend billions of dollars in Saudi Arabia. The PGA Tour has about 27 sponsors, I think, who do 40-plus billion dollars’ worth of business on an annual basis in Saudi Arabia.
“Why doesn’t the PGA Tour call the CEO of those organizations [and say], ‘I’m sorry we can’t do business with you because you’re doing business with Saudi Arabia.’ Why are they picking on the professional golfers?”
