During an interview on Fox News that aired Monday, former world No. 1 Norman was asked by Tucker Carlson if it was true that Woods was offered $700-800 million to join the LIV Golf series .
“This number was out there before I became CEO,” Norman replied. “So that number was out there, yeah. Look, Tiger is a needle mover, right?
“So of course you’re going to be looking at the best of the best. They originally reached out to Tiger before I became CEO, so yeah, that number is somewhere in that neighborhood.”
Norman previously told the Washington Post in June that Woods had been offered huge money to take part, but had turned it down. Norman said Woods’ proposal was “staggeringly enormous; we are talking about high nine-digit numbers”.
The controversial tour has seen some big names in golf leave the established PGA Tour and DP World Tour to compete for huge sums of money.
Big winners Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, Sergio Garcia, Louis Oosthuizen, Graeme McDowell, Charl Schwartzel and Martin Kaymer have all joined the Breakaway Venture which has offered players huge sums of money.
The LIV Golf series is backed by the Public Investment Fund (PIF) of Saudi Arabia – a sovereign wealth fund chaired by Mohammed bin Salman, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia – and has pledged a total prize pool of US$250 million forgive.
However, it has drawn criticism from many players, including Rory McIlroy and Woods, that players have abandoned golf’s traditional establishment and accepted money from a country with a dismal human rights record.
Ahead of July’s Open in St Andrews, Scotland, Woods said he disagreed with the players who had left.
“I think they turned away from what allowed them to get to that position,” said the 15-time Major winner.
“Some of these players may never get the chance to play in major championships. That’s a possibility. We don’t know that yet. It’s up to all major championship bodies to make that decision. But it’s a possibility.” that some players will never get the chance to play in a major championship, never get the chance to experience this here, walk down the Augusta National fairways.
“But what these players are doing for guaranteed money, what’s the incentive to practice? What’s the incentive to go out and earn it in the dirt? They just get paid a lot of money up front and play a few events and play 54 holes. They play pounding music and have all these different atmospheres.”
Woods added: “I just don’t see how this move is supposed to be a long-term positive for many of these players, especially with the LIV organization not receiving world ranking points and the major championships changing their criteria for entering the events.
“It would be sad to see that some of these young children never get the chance to experience and experience what we have the chance to experience and enter these sacred sites and compete in these championships.”
Woods even went so far as to criticize Norman himself for his role on the splinter tour. “Greg has done some things that I don’t think are in the best interest of our game and we are returning to what is probably the most historic and storied place in our sport.”
On Sunday, Henrik Stenson won event three of LIV Golf’s debut season in Bedminster, New Jersey.
Nearly two weeks after he was stripped of his Ryder Cup captaincy for joining the series, the 46-year-old Swede shot 11-under par to win $4 million at Trump National Golf Club Bedminster.
He accepted the trophy along with former US President Donald Trump, who was present during the three-day competition and who owns the course.