Tiger Woods rejected $800 million entry fee for Saudi Arabia's LIV Golf Tour

Enlarge image

Golf pro Tiger Woods:

$ 800 million entry fee?

Oh no, let it go, Prince Salman

Photo: FIR MAURY/EPA

Tiger Woods, one of the most successful and well-known golfers in the world, now seems immune to large sums.

Woods has been offered an entry fee of between $700 million and $800 million if he chooses to participate in the Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund-funded LIV golf tour.

This was confirmed by LIV Tour CEO Greg Norman in an interview with Fox News on Monday.

"The offer was so high it can drive you insane," Norman said.

"We're talking about an offer with nine zeros - and the first number is significantly higher than 5."

But Woods turned down the offer.

There are two reasons for this decision: Woods has already made enough money during his professional golf career.

And after many successful years on the PGA Tour, he apparently has no desire to be bought by the Saudis for the competitive event.

On the fringes of the British Open, he gave his colleagues one more piece of advice: Anyone who decides on the extremely highly endowed LIV Tour of the Saudis should also turn their backs on the PGA Tour - the competition that has made every golfer great to date have, according to Woods.

Image cultivation with the help of the Saudi sovereign wealth fund

The LIV Tour is a prestige project of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

The competition is financed by the Saudi sovereign wealth fund PIF, which is currently the second largest sovereign wealth fund in the world with a volume of around 620 billion dollars, behind the sovereign wealth fund from Norway.

Crown Prince bin Salman is chairman of the Saudi sovereign wealth fund, which aims to become an "investment powerhouse for innovative companies worldwide".

Since the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Kashoggi in 2018 at the Saudi embassy in Istanbul, bin Salman has been trying to improve his image on various levels.

One of them is the worldwide LIV tour for golf professionals, which pays out prize money of 25 million dollars to the participants at each stop.

In the coming year, 14 events are planned during the LIV tour.

$25 million in prize money - at every stop on the tour

But although the financial commitment is almost unlimited, so far only a few prominent golf professionals have joined the LIV Tour.

US professional golfer and two-time Major winner Dustin Johnson is the only professional golfer from the world's top 20 to have joined the LIV Tour and is therefore excluded from the PGA Tour.

According to media reports, Johnson is said to have received around $150 million in signing bonuses from Saudi Arabia.

According to media reports, his colleague Phil Mickelson received an entry fee of around 200 million dollars.

The Swede Henrik Stenson, who was supposed to lead the European Ryders Cup team as captain in the next duel with the US team, lost this position when he switched to the controversial LIV league.

LIV CEO Greg Norman is said to be unable to explain the rejection of the new Golf series.

It is important to him to increase not only his income but also the number of friends of golf - and the new worldwide golf tour is a good opportunity for that.

The tour with a view to the reserves of the Saudi sovereign wealth fund is definitely an opportunity to increase the number of income millionaires.

la