Pat Perez’s LIV Golf career on the line after Tiger Woods comments

Former PGA Tour star Pat Perez didn’t hold back in his criticism of Tiger Woods following his move to LIV Golf. Now, two years on, his time with the breakaway league could be drawing to a close.

Perez decided to sign with the LIV setup after it made a dramatic entrance into professional golf in 2022, penning a contract reportedly worth $10 million (£7.9 million) with the Saudi-backed series. His decision, like many others, was met with backlash for aligning himself with Greg Norman and his team.

One of those critics was none other than arguably the greatest golfer of all time, Woods, who questioned the competitive spirit and ‘incentive’ of the LIV setup in its early stages due to its lack of cut and generous payouts for players finishing at the bottom of its leaderboard.

Perez, however, was far from pleased with these comments. “That’s the stupidest —- I have ever heard of in my life. That’s one of the stupidest things I think he has said,” he vented on the Son of a Butch podcast.

“The incentive is the fact that last place is $120,000, first place is $4 million. You cannot win $4 million on the PGA Tour.”

“Now, next year you might; they finally got the perks. But last time I checked, he signed a $40 million deal right out of college and was flying on the Nike jet. He found incentive. He could have shut it down right then. 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 played in the majors, he played in the WGCs and that was it.”

“He played Torrey. Never played Riv. But he’s worth every dime. In fact, like I said, he’s two billion short of where he should be, I think.”

Pat Perez, who joined the controversial LIV Golf league, secured a win with the 4Aces during the inaugural team championship in 2022.

Despite his previous success as a three-time PGA Tour winner, Perez has had a tumultuous season on the Saudi-backed circuit, both personally and for his 4Aces team. Currently, the once-dominant 4Aces are struggling, positioned ninth in the standings, with Perez’s individual performance also looking bleak.

After nine events, Perez is dangerously close to relegation, sitting at 47th place with only three matches remaining. However, he managed to distance himself from the drop zone by tying for 14th at LIV Nashville last week, marking his best result of the season.

Perez will need to maintain this level of play in upcoming tournaments in Spain, the UK, and West Virginia to secure his position.