At the beginning of August, GolfWRX reported on an interview between FOX News and Greg Norman, CEO of LIV Golf, in which the station asked about the figure initially offered to Tiger Woods to join the Saudi-backed organization.

• Related: Greg Norman delivers swaggering response to Rory McIlroy after recent PGA Tour wins jibe

Speaking to host Tucker Carlson the two-time Open champion confirmed the figure to be circa $700 million, three times over any offer we have since heard about:

“That number was out there before I became CEO, so that number has been out there, yes.”

“And, look, Tiger is a needle-mover and, of course, you have to look at the best of the best. So they had originally approached Tiger before I became CEO. So, yes, that number was somewhere in that neighborhood.”

However, in a recent interview with foxsports.com.au, Norman backtracked slightly on his initial claim, saying that, “the numbers that were thrown out were inclusive of future franchise value.”

According to Fox Sports, “Woods was offered a much smaller sign-on fee, with the remainder of LIV’s $A1 billion pitch made up of potential future earnings through ownership of one of its 12 franchises.”

Norman says: “To be honest, we don’t comment on any past or current offers to any players, but obviously the media picks up on information, tid bits, white noise, and they run with it.”

“I just want to make sure for clarification here, the numbers that were thrown out were inclusive of future franchise value.”

“And so if you take a look at this number that’s being thrown out there … the generational wealth that this franchise opportunity has for the individual players is incredible.”

Norman then insists:

“That’s how it is. It’s not the cash value. We never offered that cash value to Tiger Woods. That’s the reality of it.”

LIV has a habit of making news during some of the biggest event on the PGA Tour, and Tiger’s potential earnings were not the only topic for discussion during the week of the second of three FedEx Playoff events.

As Tiger met a select group of PGA Tour players on Tuesday to discuss the future of the tour, Norman was backing up his appeal for LIV events to be awarded OWGR points, therefore giving members a much better chance of qualifying for any future majors, should the various authorities allow them to enter. It would, also, give LIV much more legitimacy within the golfing world.

“I think it’s important for the sustainability of the OWGR, to be honest with you,” he told Fox, before continuing.

“LIV Golf is a proven platform with very significant players with very high-ranking points with a very proven model that works. So I think, really, the onus is on the OWGR as an independent organisation to see that LIV Golf is worthy of these ranking points because of what we’ve produced and what we’ve done.”

Norman sees no reason the limited-field 54-hole events are not being backed by the rankings organization:

“We’ve done all the right things. LIV is living up to it, LIV is proving it. So it’s up to the independent board, the independent chairman.”

“I’m confident they’ll sit back and see that the LIV Golf League (from 2023) and the LIV Golf Invitational Series we’ve done today is worthy and warranted of OWGR points.”

With the PGA Tour rumored to be coming out with their own limited-field big-money events, and the LIV developing a women’s league, the last few months of 2022 are going to be a hive of activity and changes, the like of which we have never seen.

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