Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy each reportedly received massive payments from the PGA Tour for rejecting offers made by budding rival LIV Golf.

Woods reportedly received a $100 million payment while McIlroy received around $50 million, the Telegraph reported on Wednesday (April 24), citing funds made available after investors infused $1.5 billion into PGA Tour Enterprises in January. The PGA reportedly paid $1 billion in total between 193 golfers who opted to reject LIV Golf offers.

The PGA Tour and its commissioner Jay Monahan were reportedly "at pains" attempting to keep the financial breakdown private, especially with other players receiving far less compensation than Woods, widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential golfers of all-time, and McIlroy, a four-time major champion and the current No. 2 overall player in the official World Golf Ranking.

In 2022, CEO Greg Norman confirmed that Woods was offered "in the neighborhood of" $700 million and $800 million to join the LIV Golf Invitational Series during an appearance on Tucker Carlson Tonight.

"That number was out there before I became CEO," Norman said when asked by Carlson if the reported offer range was true. "Look, Tiger is a needle mover, right? So, of course you're got to look at the best of the best. They had originally approached Tiger before I became CEO, so yes. That number is somewhere in that neighborhood."

Woods, a 15-time major champion, has publicly supported the PGA Tour in its ongoing battle with the emerging LIV Golf to keep the best golfers in the world, but also showed his support of the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of Saint Andrews' decision to invite Norman, a two-time winner of the Open championship, to the 150th celebration of the event 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 commercial entity to unify golf" in a news release shared on its official website, though an official agreement wasn't reached prior to a December 31 deadline, which has since been extended as talks continue.

Mike McConnell

Beer Dave Topics 11-13-2020