LIV Golfer Slams Tiger Woods For Questioning Golfers’ Will to Win Because of Saudi Tour’s Guaranteed Payouts: ‘Stupidest Sh*t I Have Ever Heard’
LIV Golf’s Pat Perez took a shot at golf legend Tiger Woods after Woods questioned golfers’ incentive to compete — given the amount of up-front money the Saudi-backed tour has paid its golfers.
The controversial LIV Golf is financed by the Saudi Arabian government and created a divide between its members, and the golfers who spurned LIV’s massive guaranteed paydays to remain with the PGA Tour.
Woods has been one of the most prominent critics of the new startup league. He questioned the dedication LIV golfers would have to competing at the highest level — given they have already received large sums of guaranteed money. Phil Mickelson, for example, reportedly signed a deal worth $200 million guaranteed to join.
“What these players are doing for guaranteed money, what is the incentive to practice?” Said Woods — whose net worth, according to Forbes, is $1.7 billion.
Perez, who had three career PGA Tour wins, made nearly $29 million in his 25 years on the PGA Tour. Perez was a guest on the Son of a Butch podcast hosted by Claude Harmon III — and did not hold back against Woods.
“That’s the stupidest shit I have ever heard in my life,” Perez said. “That’s one of the stupidest things I think he’s said. The incentive is the fact that last place is $120,000. First place is four million. You cannot win four million on the PGA Tour.”
Perez described how Woods was hypocritical because of the deals Woods signed after he left college to join the PGA Tour.
“But last time I checked, he signed a $40 million deal right out of college, was flying on the Nike jet. He found incentive,” Perez added. “He could have shut it down right then.”
Perez elaborated that Woods made most of his money from endorsements, which allowed him to skip many events during the prime of his career.
“He had a lot of guarantees,” Perez continued. “You know what, and he was the hottest thing. He’s made so much money off the course he found an incentive to go. But again, he only played in how many tournaments. He didn’t go. I never saw him at John Deere, never him supporting all these events. He played in the majors, he played in the WGCs, and that was it. He played Torrey. Never played Riv (Riviera). But he’s worth every dime. In fact, like I said, he’s two billion short of where he should be, I think.”
Listen above via the Son of a Butch podcast.
New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!
Comments
↓ Scroll down for comments ↓