Agent dumped by Tiger Woods takes brutal dig over ultimate ‘betrayal’ – ‘It’s maddening’
Sports agent Hughes Norton has slammed Tiger Woods for the ‘betrayal’ of being fired by the golfing superstar during his heyday.
Woods burst onto the scene as a teenager and enjoyed immediate success in the golfing world, taking the sport by storm.
Multi-million-pound sponsorship deals followed with Nike and Titleist after Woods won the Masters at 21 years of age in 1997.
Norton was by Woods’ side throughout it all and was the golf icon’s first agent having met him at 13 years old.
He was already well known in the golf game as Greg Norman’s super agent and looked onto another winner with Woods.
That was until the 15-time major champion fired Norton just a few years after he struck deals worth around £48m ($60m).
Speaking ahead of the launch of his new tell-all book, ‘Rainmaker’, Norton opened up on the moment he was let go by Woods.
“It was betrayal with a capital B,” Norton told the Daily Mail.
“On a professional level, because I thought I’d done my job in spades.
“And on a personal level, because it was such a rejection of a relationship that we had built together for 10 years.
“Norton holds no punches in the book either as he calls Woods a ‘zombie with relationships’ and someone that struggles with social skills.
“The solace I can take, which doesn’t provide much, is this: He was an equal opportunity zombie with relationships, his swing coaches, his lawyer, the guy negotiated the IMG representation deal, with caddies,” he said in the book.
“When it’s over, it’s over.
“It is the way he terminates relationships with everyone.
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“Whether it’s girlfriends, whether it’s his former golf coaches. It’s ironic, really.
“In a way he’s so good at confrontation on the golf course. If he’s playing you, he will beat your brains out every single time.
“But when it comes to confronting things like me and other people that are in his life, he has no social skills whatsoever. It’s maddening, actually.”