“That's the stupidest s*** I have ever heard” - Pat Perez blasts Tiger Woods over comments on LIV Golf
LIV golfer Pat Perez has now slammed Tiger Woods for his criticism of the rebel series. He called the 15-time major champion’s comments the “stupidest s***” he’s ever heard.
Woods, who has been a strong critic of LIV Golf since its inception, had earlier attacked players for defecting to it. Speaking at The Open Championship in St Andrews in July, the 82-time PGA Tour winner slammed the Greg Norman-led series and its players. He called foul on the 54-hole format of the tour and said that the players gained nothing but "guarantee money" from it.
Tiger Woods came out against the LIV Golf series earlier this month. "What these players are doing for guaranteed money, what is the incentive to practice?" he questioned. "What is the incentive to go out there and earn it in the dirt?" he continued.
It's safe to say that Perez wasn’t impressed with the comment. Speaking on the Son of a Butch podcast, the LIV golfer came for the legendary golfer and dubbed his motive ‘stupid.’ The former PGA Tour player, who earned around $7 million in just eight events from LIV, said that money indeed was the ‘incentive’ for LIV players.
Slamming Tiger Woods for his comments, Pat Perez said:
" That's the stupidest s*** I have ever heard of in my life… That's one of the stupidest things I think he has 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. Now, next year you might; they finally got the perks. But last time I checked, he signed a $40million deal right out of college, was flying on the Nike jet. He found incentive. He could have shut it down right then.”
Perez, who played over 20 seasons on the PGA Tour, said that Woods never supported small events. The LIV golfer even painted the legendary golfer as a ‘hypocrite’ by stating that he only appeared in the prize-rich events on the PGA Tour.
He added:
"He had a lot of guarantees. You know what, and he was the hottest thing. He's made so much money off the course, he found incentive to go. But again, he only played how many tournaments… He didn't go — I never saw him at John Deere, never saw him supporting all these events."
He continued:
"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."
Tiger Woods mentioned that LIV wasn’t a "positive" prospect for the long term
Speaking at The Open Championship at St Andrews in July, Tiger Woods questioned why players were choosing LIV over the PGA Tour. Criticizing the rebel series, Woods said that he "didn’t understand" why players moved for "guaranteed money."
Tiger Woods said:
"I don't understand it. What these players are doing for guaranteed money, what is the incentive to practice? What is the incentive to go out there and earn it in the dirt?... You are just getting paid a lot of money up front and playing a few events and playing 54 holes. They are playing blaring music. I can understand 54 holes for the Senior Tour. The guys are older and a little more banged up.”
Tiger Woods even went on to state that LIV wasn’t a "positive" prospect for the long term. Woods, much like his PGA Tour partner Rory McIlroy, said that the younger players were wrong to move to the controversial Saudi-backed series instead of playing in the traditional American circuit.
It is pertinent to note that Perez’s takedown of Woods’ comments comes only weeks after his 4 Aces side won LIV's inaugural team championship in Miami. He, along with his teammates Dustin Johnson, Patrick Reed, and Talor Gooch, bagged hefty paychecks as a result.