Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy’s massive PGA loyalty payments revealed

tiger forest and Rory McIlroy Each reportedly received massive payouts from the PGA Tour for rejecting offers made by budding rival LIV Golf.

Woods was reportedly paid $100 million, while McIlroy was paid around $50 million. the Telegraph reported Wednesday (April 24), citing funds made available after investors pumped $1.5 billion into PGA Tour Enterprises in January. The PGA reportedly paid out $1 billion in total among 193 golfers who chose to reject LIV Golf’s offers.

The PGA Tour and its commissioner Jay Monahan They reportedly “struggled” to try to keep the financial crisis private, especially since other players received much less compensation than Woods, widely considered one of the greatest and most influential golfers of all time, and McIlroy, a four-time champion of a Major. and the current number 2 player in the official world golf ranking.

In 2022, CEO Greg Norman confirmed that Woods was offered “close to” $700 million to $800 million to join the LIV Golf Invitational Series during an appearance on Tucker Carlson tonight.

“That number already existed before I became CEO,” Norman said when Carlson asked if the reported offer range was true. “Look, Tiger moves needles, right? So, of course, you have to look for the best of the best. They had originally approached Tiger before I became CEO, so yes. That number is somewhere of that neighborhood.”

Woods, a 15-time major champion, has publicly supported the PGA Tour in its current battle with the emerging LIV Golf to retain the best golfers in the world, but also showed his support for the decision of the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of Saint Andrews . invite Norman, a two-time Open championship winner, to the event’s 150th celebration in 2022, despite his ties to the rival league.

Last June, the PGA Tour announced its agreement to merge with LIV Golf as part of a “newly formed business entity to unify golf” in a press release shared on its official website, although no official agreement was reached beforehand. on December 31. deadline, which has since been extended as talks continue.