Tiger Woods’ Former Agent Finally Tells the Story
Before Tiger Woods became a global business empire, Hughes Norton was helping build the foundation.
In this episode of The Big Swing with Jimmy Roberts, Jimmy sits down with Hughes Norton — the legendary former IMG agent who represented Tiger Woods, Greg Norman, Curtis Strange, and other major figures in golf during one of the most transformative eras in the sport’s history.
Norton takes Jimmy inside the early days of golf’s commercial boom, when players were taking $500 outing fees and the PGA Tour was still a “mom and pop” operation. From there, he helped usher in a new era of athlete marketing, sponsorships, appearance fees, global endorsements, and massive brand deals.
The conversation also goes deep on Tiger Woods’ arrival as a professional, including the behind-the-scenes story of Tiger’s first major Nike deal, the role of Earl Woods, the intense pressure around Tiger’s time, and the stunning phone call that ended Norton’s relationship with Tiger for good.
Hughes also reflects on Greg Norman, LIV Golf, Mark McCormack, Arnold Palmer, the changing role of agents, the rise of player entourages, NIL, the new PGA Tour schedule, and how golf became a billion-dollar business.
In this episode:
How Hughes Norton got started at IMG under Mark McCormack
What the PGA Tour looked like before golf became big business
The early endorsement economy around players like Curtis Strange
Negotiating Tiger Woods’ first mega-deals
The Nike deal and Phil Knight controversy
What Tiger Woods was really like behind the scenes
The phone call that ended Norton’s relationship with Tiger
Greg Norman’s role in LIV Golf
Why LIV struggled to gain traction
Arnold Palmer’s role in stopping an earlier breakaway tour
How agents, money, NIL, and sponsorships changed golf forever
What the PGA Tour’s new schedule could mean for players and sponsors
This is a conversation about Tiger Woods, Greg Norman, LIV Golf, IMG, Nike, and the business machine that transformed professional golf from a niche tour into a global sports economy.
If you care about the business of golf, the rise of Tiger Woods, the history of IMG, or how money changed the professional game, this episode is worth your full attention.
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Jonny had god talkin to him in 74………lenny and co got back to old projects after cleaning up after woodstock.
Sick of anything about Tiger. He was a great golfer no doubt. Away from the course complete asshole. The media protected him from any negative press cause he was the golden goose of the PGA Tour and media. I think in his prime Tiger could have killed someone and he would have an Oj moment and be protected by the Pga tour media. Tiger needs to just go away. Phil the same. 2 of the most important golfers in last 35 years,both complete frauds.
16:35 … it's just business. people change products and services all the time. you provided him a service. he wanted to change and he didn't want to discuss it and he didn't want to deal with a salesman that day. you went down there as a salesman. you knew it and he knew it. don't act so surprised. to continue talking about this years after it happened just makes you look bad.
"Tiger Woods’ Former Agent Finally Tells the Story" – – – – ???? – – – – he has told this story many times before this.
That sums it all up about Eldrick! Unable to express and thankfulness or gratitude to anyone! Eldrick is a very sick person and goes out of his way to hurt anyone that get to close to him, the list includes coaches, agents , caddy’s all the way to his own children and wife! Very sad story that has no end of how destructive Eldrick is a real life living Frankenstein!
coupla legends
Caitlin Clark needs this guy.
Not a tiger fan, he’s a coward. Great golfer and lousy human being, he’s a fraud as a human being and doesn’t care about anyone but himself.
Amazing interview. Too bad he was a addict ( sex at the time now pain killers ) and ruined his golf career. Could have been the greatest
It's very interesting hearing these stories.
“Just graduated from Harvard Business School. Didn’t know how to read a contract”. Um what.
Tiger is not a good person, and I lay a lot of the blame on his parents. The apple only very rarely falls far from the tree, and he was clearly not taught how to be a good person.
A Harvard graduate can’t go a minute without mentioning Harvard. Pathetic. The prestige of this school and the other Ivys is way out of date. A far superior education is to be had at Hillsdale, for example. Harvard and the rest now run only on the accumulated prestige capital of the past.
Who Cares!
the pga head office is riddled with rino's……..all the way up to the top. they wanted to pump up golf and woods was the vehicle for that.
not only was woods psycho enough to take on that kind of spotlight, he used it to his advantage to "freeze out" any challengers . Any one facing woods in a final was greeted with a wall of hate by the dumb galleries.
This is SO WORTH THE LISTEN to all the people who love golf, make their business in golf, study sports business and sports marketing. Hughes was there when more than half was invented and activated.
The way he related how Tiger dismissed him made me think of dinosaur fossil's that research determined were children of dinosaur's who had been eaten by their parent. One minute they were a parent and the next the were rivals competing for food. Clearly Tiger does/has not has not figured out how to handle difficult conversations. Just show having money doesn't make you better or wiser.
Jimmy…you don't look cool unshaven, you look homeless.
What cracks me up about guys like Norton is they really have no talent of their own. They make millions of the backs of others and then they write books about their mistreatment later on. Why? Does anyone really want to know about this stuff? Do they really care? Do I think Tiger, Phil or Greg Norman are good guys? Nope! And I never did, but they all did their jobs and that job was to entertain us in the world of golf. None of them put money in my pocket or food on my table. People that revere celebrities of any kind are naive and deserve to have their feelings hurt.
21:07 “interacts with fans like nobody since Arnold Palmer”…..that comment from this agent says so, so much. I can not imagine any higher praise. Comparing a golfer to Arnold Palmer is like comparing a singer to Frank Sinatra
Doesn't surprise me. Phil Knight is all about maximizing the bottom line and shareholder equity, which is a reason why Nike apparel is being made overseas with cheap labor in non-union shops.
I've never met Hughes Norton but his name has been brought up to me several times.
Now, hearing his story I find him fascinating, credible, and likable.
His creative rise and fall professionally, and the very public nature of his clientele mirrors my own.
I always stated, 'The deeper the water, the bigger the fish."
I used this to explain both the motivation for competing in that level of business and to understand the size and strength of the predators you will face daily.
I remember the guys who used to wear the Amana caps.
LIV is Caddyshack 2
Very good interview. It’s rough representing talent at times. I’ve been fired by established movie stars and I was just as stunned as him. Very few are grateful and take accountability when things aren’t going great.
LOL, this clown must be really special to be able to "earn" Tiger Woods all of his endorsement money early in his career. I cannot think of one athlete offhand harder to get an endorsement deal for in the history of sports 🤡🤡🤡. If anything close to that comment ever came out of his mouth to Tiger back then, it would have been an easy call to can him.
Tiger unfortunately is a deep state Muppet. Look up tiger woods 5 years old. Its all documented.
Tiger dad was a scumbag
Corporations have ruined everything from Sports to Main St. to our Gov't. The whole system is rigged to make the fatcats at the top more $$$
Why is that all these guys who are supposed to be confidants to their client come out and write books leveraging their relationship with Tiger. First Steve Williams then Hank Haney, now this guy?? All douches trying to get whatever self- publicity they can get off Tiger's name for a money grab. Who knows whatever the hell they are saying is even true but regardless snitches get stitches.
Guy says he knew tiger for all those years, understood that money didn't motivate him, and why he likely got canned in 98 but is still butt hurt to this day. Sounds like you rode your money horse too hard by getting him all these deals and endorsements that he was reluctant about or didn't really want. Sounds like your short term greed was really the problem here by not really aligning yourself to your client's long term career goals.
I’m a fan of LIV golf and I’m very happy to see you take a neutral approach in talking about it. Too many influencer’s talk down about it like they ever played on the tour and know what it was like and how Phil worked so hard to get more for the players in the PGA. I have subscribed to hear more of your work. Miss seeing you a tv.
Through circumstance I know a contemporary of Hughes’s, he may even have been senior. However this guy splits people into “good guy” or “bad guy” and his verdict on tiger and his dad was not “good guys “.
One of the things that really burns my fanny concerning the game of golf. No one has ever given credit to Jackie Gleason. Sometime in the 70s he hooked up with the in golf classic and they raised first prize winnings to about $50,000, which was about twice the winnings of any other tournament. I often said that he is one of the reasons why the prize money took such a rapid rise. Any thoughts?
Nobody cared about watching men in shorts playing in tournaments that don’t mean Jack shit the ratings were absolutely horrible
Great conversation! Today is seems like those who make the decisions are throwing youknowwhat against the wall to see what sticks. LIV slowly slipped off the wall. I hope the PGA Tour doesn't make the same mistake. It's a ball, a stick and a small hole and who can put it there in the least amount of shots. It's not rocket science so leave it alone…..Please!! Like Mr. Palmer said, "what's best for the fella's".
This will be perceived as a bizarre comment by many, but I always look at Tiger as a “what if”. Won 90% of his majors by 30. If he didn’t do these extreme turbulent swing moves(destroyed his legs), military-like training(damaged his spine), drug addiction(Ambien, painkillers), along with the 100’s of sexual escapades while married(that has to be a massive stress factor). Concealing, lying etc. he’d have won 22-25 majors. So to me, as amazing his greatness was, it only lasted for 8-9 years. Shoulda been 20 easy!
Jimmy
What guitar is that in the background ?
Without meaning to cause offence, I feel the need to say that US-based golf commentators/agents/event organisers/fans don’t understand how cannibalistic the PGA tour has become. The 44-week schedule leaves no space for the national tours in other countries to attract leading international players or sponsors. Look at the tours in Australia, Japan, South Africa, Ireland and elsewhere — all withering. The PGA Tour needs to both shorten and share. It has seen off the threat of LIV Golf this time but the next challenge might not be as easy.
Just more evidence of the decline of the Western culture. Hollowed out middle class (Arnies Army) out of sight green fees for the public. Corporate take over. It's sad to see, but life is changing for the general public in ways that will never recover. A 2 tiered society that will eventually eat its own till just a hand full of entities own and control the world
Re: LIV, Jimmy. The shot-gun start makes the game more watchable and keeps it within a reasonable amount of watch-time. When ambient conditions are the same for all participants then there is no need for a AM-PM, PM-AM two rounds to even out the meteorological influence. The only thing that I find detracting is the darn music. No need whatsoever but "theme-song" intros are okay. As for water-cooler talk, "Did you see" becomes "You should have seen" and should LIV persist, it will find an avid audience everywhere and not just the USA.
Greg is a snake in the grass.
Finally tells the story? Sorry Jimmy, Tom Coyne beat you to it more than a year ago. Not to mention Mr. Norton's book came out in 2024.
The Tour Championship had gone stale. It was all about the money, not the title. FedEx has run its course with the PGA Tour, look for another big corporate name to be the high bidder for the tournament. Playoffs are toast.