Now that the LIV and PGA Tours have merged, one story has reemerged and that is that LIV Golf offered Tiger Woods $800 million to play golf with their tour.
You read correctly, they were willing to offer Tiger a billion with a B, dollars just to give its brand legitimacy. Tiger doesn’t need the money, he’s the richest golfer in the world and his brand is everywhere.
He, along with Rory McIlroy, have been two of the PGA Tours’ biggest supporters and while McIIroy apparently has fallen in line with the new merger, Tiger has yet to say a word about it.
Back in December of 2022, he made it perfectly clear where he stood on the merger idea.
“Greg’s gotta go. Lawsuits gotta go: then we can talk, we can all talk freely.”
🚨Tiger Woods in December: “Greg’s gotta go. Lawsuits gotta go: then we can talk.” Will be fascinating to hear his reaction. pic.twitter.com/g6lrBbSebz
— NUCLR GOLF (@NUCLRGOLF) June 6, 2023
Golf fans are wondering how could the PGA Tour do their players like this and blindside them without telling them what was going on.
And many are questioning, especially how dirty they did Woods after showing his loyalty.
Good for Tiger Woods for turning down $800 MILLION from the sports-washing, money-laundering leviathan that is the Saudi-owned LIV Golf https://t.co/XVVyf5j57m
— Lindy Li (@lindyli) June 6, 2023
Tiger Woods turned down nearly a BILLION dollar check from Saudi Arabia only for the tour to stab him in the back and cut a deal with them anyway https://t.co/oQVSQv60Lm
— Secular Talk🎙 (@KyleKulinski) June 6, 2023
Notable PGA Golfers who turned down absurd offers from LIV:
Tiger Woods: $800 Million
Rory McIlroy: $500 Million
Hideki Matsuyama: $300 Million
Will Zalatoris: $130 Million pic.twitter.com/EG916n280J— Fanatics Sportsbook (@FanaticsBook) June 6, 2023
Tiger Woods turned down $800 Million from Saudi-backed LIV Golf last year to stay with the PGA 📉
Yesterday, the two leagues merged together 😬💰 pic.twitter.com/7Z9IVn9zAQ
— Sportsville (@Sportsville_) June 7, 2023
*Tiger woods hearing PGA will merge with LIV after turning down 800 million…
https://t.co/t7YDfdYJMk— Gavin McHugh (@gavinmchughh) June 7, 2023
Many took Tiger’s side in this matter and are wondering what will he do next. Will he stand by the PGA’s decision like McIIroy did and support the merger, or will he like others have suggested, retire and start his own tour or become PGA commissioner?
At this point, anything is possible.
About Stacey Mickles
Stacey is a 1995 graduate of the University of Alabama who has previously worked for other publications such as Sportskeeda and Saturday Down South.