Tiger Woods He has been associated with Agent Mark Steinberg for the best of three decades, but superfans may not know that another agent preceded Steinberg’s mandate with Woods, forming a relationship with the Woods family that began before Tiger was a teenager.
Former IMG Hughes Norton agent has the distinction of being the first agent to represent the Great Pat, and Norton was responsible for negotiating the first Tiger approved agreements NikeTitle, American Express, Rolex and more. But one year after Tiger won his historical masters in 1997Norton was suddenly fired and he says he is still not sure why.
In this week’s episode of Subpar, Norton reviewed his story with Tiger and his family, which he discusses in detail his recently released book, Rainee.
How was it to recruit Tiger Woods? For Norton, she started when Tiger was only 12 years old. Norton had been holding tabs for future youth and on a trip to Southern California, he decided to pay the Woods family a visit to their home to Cypress.
Shadowing golf collection
Gearn for your next round with the lightweight, semi-uninvolved vapor-built-built model to cut brightness and increase contrast.
“I had never talked to a family or a child before,” Norton said Subpar expects Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz. “And all my colleagues in the golf department in IMG were giving me a difficult time saying,” Oh, are we in tennis now, Hughes? “Because tennis players turn in favor when they are 14 ever.”
Norton cultivated a trust relationship with the Woods family as Tiger grew up, which led to Norton to represent Tiger when he decided to leave Stanford to return in favor. Norton’s contracts provided for Tiger made him one of the world’s highest -pay athletes before he had hit a stroke as a professional. Nike Tiger’s first contract was a five-year deal, $ 40 million.
“What was the reaction from Tiger Woods when you first introduced in that contract?” Knost asked Norton.
“Complete indifference,” Norton replied. “I was sitting in the hotel suite. It was the night before he went out to play his first round as a professional, pro-am in Milwaukee, 1996. I had three contracts.
“And we went through the cheek, and indeed, I said indifferently, it’s a kind of boredom as we go through,” Norton continued. “Not so much Earl, but the tiger kind of cheekbones and wondering when SportsCenter will come. You know, he is 20 years old. He had no reference framework for this, and I continued to try to put it in perspective.
“I would say, Tiger, just so you know, this $ 8 million a year for Nike’s shoes and clothes is four to five times what boys number 1 are doing in your sport now in your sport, Nick Faldo and Greg Norman. How do I know? Because they were both clients of IMG. And it was like, Eh. “He said, ‘It’s not bad, a?’ Then he got up and went and watched the TV. “
