No one grows up knowing what they’re going to do with their lives and it’s fairly okay to need a little nudge in the right direction. That little nudge for the GOAT was his first agent Hughes Norton. Norton was the one who saw Tiger Woods’s talent when he was just a kid but their story did not end very well as Woods fired Norton after just two days of working with him. But why? Well, let’s just say things didn’t quite work out.

In the latest YouTube video by the Golfer’s Journal, fans got to see Norton give insights on how his partnership with the golf legend was behind the cameras. When asked about his time with Tiger Woods Norton reflected on their complicated past and well he spilled quite the beans this time. According to Norton, he had known Woods since he was 13 and played an important role in launching his career. “I’m going through my mind, okay? I set him up for generational wealth, you know? The day he teed up as a pro, he was set for life, with around $100 million in the bank to come”, said Norton.

He also reflected on how he protected Woods from the chaos of fame by hiring his dad Earl, as a talent scout when Earl needed financial support for Wood’s junior golf career. “I had shielded him as best I could from the Tiger Mania, all the craziness of the media, which he hated, by the way. I had hired his dad as our talent scout way back when his dad really needed more money”, Norton continued.

By the looks of it, Norton had quite a role in shaping Woods’s career and knew all the little details of the kid who was poised to make history in the golf world. He also revealed something that maybe only a few people know.

Hughes Norton said Tiger Woods ‘hated the commercial aspects’

Hughes Norton’s time with Tiger Woods was filled with obstacles, challenges, and ultimately, unfulfilled expectations and we do not say this lightly. Despite his best efforts to manage Woods’s career, Norton often faced resistance from the golfer’s strong hate for the most important thing in a successful athlete’s life. “I had tried my best… I mentioned before that Tiger hated the commercial aspects. He hated having to do anything for this money, for photo sessions or sales meeting appearances, or golf rounds with people. And so we had kept his commercial obligations in all these big contracts to a minimum”, he said.

Norton’s approach worked on so many levels which ended up allowing Tiger Woods to commit to fewer sponsor obligations than Arnold Palmer while earning three to four times more. Yes, Norton also revealed that at the time Woods was earning four times more than Palmer. “In fact, the joke around the office was… and of course, we could have access to contracts of other players, like Arnold Palmer, the biggest star ever, arguably. And Tiger’s obligations were sometimes half of what Arnold was required to do, and he was making three, four times the money”, continued the golfer.