The LIV Golf Invitational Series has poached some of the biggest names in the sport, such as Dustin Johnson and Phil Mickelson. But the new league, which is backed by Saudi Arabian investments, wasn’t able to reel in the game’s most popular fish despite “mind-blowingly enormous” offers.
Greg Norman, commissioner and chief executive of LIV Golf, told The Washington Post that Woods was offered in the “high nine digits” if he were to leave the PGA Tour and join the new league. Woods has remained in lockstep with the PGA Tour throughout, and spoke publicly about it as recently as last month at the PGA Championship at Southern Hills Country Club.
“I’ve been playing out here for a couple of years over decades, and I think there’s a legacy to it,” Woods told reporters at Southern Hills Country Club, per Golf Digest. “I still think that the Tour has so much to offer, so much opportunity.”
Mickelson, 51, who announced Monday he would be joining LIV, reportedly is $200 million richer after doing so. Norman’s comments indicate Woods, 46, was offered much more than that.
Mickelson still intends to play the 2022 U.S. Open at The Country Club in Brookline, Mass. Woods, who played in both the 2022 Masters Tournament and PGA Championship, announced Tuesday he will not attend the major as his body needs “more time to get stronger.”
The first of the four major championship rounds, which would be Mickelson’s first competitive round in the United States in four months, is set for June 16.
