Tiger Woods’ first agent Hughes Norton slams ‘selfish’ golf legend, reveals ‘worst parts’ of relationship

Hughes Norton, Tiger Woods’ first agent, spoke about his relationship with the 15-time major champion. I haven’t talked to Tiger Woods since he was fired.

Tiger Woods’ first agent, Hughes Norton, has opened up about the “low point” of his relationship with the golf legend.

Mr. Hughes has not spoken to the 15-major champion since his firing, but he did have some critical words about Mr. Woods regarding his sociability. Hughes represented Woods for two years, starting in the summer of 1996, when the golfer turned pro at just 20 years old. He first met Woods and his father, Earl, seven years ago when Earl was hired by IMG as an associate talent scout. The super agent has worked with many of golf’s greats, including LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman, whom he represented for 11 years. Hughes negotiated a record sponsorship deal for Woods early in the partnership, but never worked with him again after being fired, and IMG soon followed suit. Woods remained with the sports agency and was now represented by Mark Steinberg, who still represents him.

Meanwhile, Hughes was forced to remain silent for 10 years in exchange for large profits and was barred from competing with the company. He never returned to the job, but shared his experiences in his recently published memoir, The Rainmaker.

Hughes didn’t mince words as he recalled his breakup with Woods. “Honestly, the worst part was that there was no explanation,” Norton told Today’s Golfer. “It’s strange the way Tiger breaks up with people in his life: his caddy, his girlfriend, his manager. I wish I could sit down with Tiger today and say, “What do you remember from 25 years ago and why?”

“You never once told me that something was wrong or that I was unhappy.” This leads to feelings of betrayal for me. Because that was very difficult to swallow,” he later commented.

Hughes added: “Tiger was incredibly self-centered. From a young age, he was focused on one thing and one thing only: becoming the greatest golfer in the history of the sport. He was totally selfish. Only his needs mattered. “He never learned how to interact with people, so he had a complete lack of empathy.”

A former agent admitted as much, recalling how “Emotionless Tiger was standing there like a zombie” during a news broadcast, and that was the last time the two spoke. Hughes also believes Woods is anxious because he went from amateur to Masters champion to world No. 1 in 12 months. “Tiger didn’t like fame,” he recalls. “It really happened. It was an intrusion into his life. Hughes recalled a moment that underscored this point: “At one point he said, ‘Look, $40 million from Nike, $20 million from Titleist, that’s just paper money, Hughes.'”

“He received the championship check from a tournament he’d just won and said, ‘Look, this $300,000 that I won in Las Vegas is real to me.'” Everything else is just paper money. It’s an interesting view, but it shows how narrow-minded she was. »