The legendary golfer Tiger Woods is reportedly set to cash in. Reports say he will be given a $100 million equity payment for his loyalty to the PGA tour.
Woods To Get $100 Million
Daily Mail reported that Rory McIlroy will get around $50 million for his loyalty. Other golfers like Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas are in for $30 million each.
This comes after Strategic Sports Group, which is a consortium led by Red Sox and Liverpool owners Fenway Sports Group, just agreed to a $1.5 billion investment deal with the new PGA Tour Enterprises.
In the wake of this agreement, around $1 billion of equity is set to be shared among 193 golfers, with the top 36 in the world splitting $750 million and $75 million going to legends of the sport who have retired. Woods, McIlroy, and other players receiving these payments will not be allowed to cash in on their equity and sign with LIV Golf. Instead, they have to meet certain requirements that include staying on the PGA tour for eight years.
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LIV Golf Trying To Lure Players Away
This comes after LIV Golf managed to lure Jon Rahm away from the PGA Tour for a whopping $500 million. LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman has invited McIlroy to talk about defecting. The Irish golfer has said that he will play for the PGA tour for the rest of his career despite a rumored $850 million offer.
“LIV never put an offer to him,” Norman said. “If Rory was willing to sit down and have a conversation with us, would we be happy to sit down with him? 100 per cent, no different than any other player who would be interested in coming on and playing with us.”
McIlroy has also denied the rumors about the LIV Golf offer.
“I honestly don’t know how these things get started, I’ve never been offered a number from LIV and I’ve never contemplated going to LIV,” McIlroy told The Golf Channel last week. “I think I’ve made it clear over the past two years that I don’t think it’s something for me.”
“That doesn’t mean I judge people who have gone and played [LIV Golf],” he continued. “One of the things I’ve realized over the past two years is people can make their own decisions for whatever they think is best for themselves and who are we to judge them for that? For me, my future is here on the PGA Tour and it’s never been any different.
McIlroy’s manager Sean O’Flaherty backed this up, telling the Irish Independent, “Fake news. Zero truth.”
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Woods’ Difficult Masters
This comes at a difficult time for Woods. He finished the Masters last week with a 16-over 304, his highest 72-hole score in his three-decade career. His previous high was a 302 at the Memorial in 2015, and the only other time he didn’t break 300 at the Masters was two years ago, when he shot 78-78 on the weekend and finished at 301.
Despite this, Woods claimed that he had a “good week” and will be preparing for the next three majors of the year.
“This is a golf course I knew going into it, so I’m going to do my homework going forward at Pinehurst, Valhalla and Troon,” Woods said. “But that’s kind of the game plan.”
Now that Woods and McElroy appear to be secure on the PGA tour, it will be interesting to see if LIV Golf is able to lure away more players.