'I Never Offered Him That Money' - Saudi Golf Chief On Woods LIV Offer

Tiger Woods reported fee for joining LIV Golf has been subject to much conjecture, with various figures associated with the breakaway Tour refuting his alleged offer.

Initially, LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman claimed that Woods was offered nearly a billion dollars to join, before backtracking on that claim.

In a recent report from The New Yorker, the Saudi Golf Federation CEO Majed Al Sorour explained the apparent offer to Zach Helfand.

“It’s not straight-out money. I never offered him that money, not even close to that,” he said, with the total sum apparently also including sponsorship deals.

Norman had originally not denied that Woods’ offer was “in the neighbourhood of $700-800 million” which would have overshadowed the reported fees for both Phil Mickelson ($200m) and Dustin Johnson ($125m) as the highest-paid player to join LIV Golf and arguably its biggest draw.

The 15-time Major winner has confirmed his commitment to the PGA Tour on numerous occasions, most recently at the Open Championship at St Andrews in July.

"As far as the players who have chosen to go to LIV and to play there, I disagree with it,” Woods said. “I think that what they’ve done is they’ve turned their back on what has allowed them to get to this position.

“I just don’t see how that move is positive in the long term for a lot of these players, especially if the LIV organization doesn’t get world-ranking points and the major championships change their criteria for entering the events. It would be sad to see some of these young kids never get a chance to experience it and experience what we’ve got a chance to experience and walk these hallowed grounds and play in these championships.”

Having the arguably the greatest golfer to walk the planet siding with the PGA Tour is a huge bonus for Jay Monahan and the PGA Tour as the ongoing civil war threatens to rip the professional game apart.

Justin Thomas praised Woods for attending the player only meeting in Delaware back in August, saying: “Yeah, that's huge. I think if someone like him is passionate about it, no offence to all of us, but that's really all that matters.”

Woods’ playing career may be on the decline but using his name to protect the Tour that helped turned him into the best player on the planet could well be his new legacy.