Report: Tiger Woods' agent played 'fascinating' role in PGA Tour vs. LIV battle

Tiger Woods' agent Mark Steinberg reportedly has played a prominent role behind-the-scenes in the PGA Tour vs. LIV Golf battle.

Ben Smith's picture
Tue, 28 Mar 2023
Report: Tiger Woods' agent played 'fascinating' role in PGA Tour vs. LIV battle

Tiger Woods' agent Mark Steinberg played a 'fascinating' role in the PGA Tour's battle with LIV Golf, according to a report. 

Per Alan Shipnuck of The FirePit Collective, Woods' agent Steinberg has played a prominent role in the behind-the-scenes wranglings involving the PGA Tour and their LIV Golf rival. 

Shipnuck promises to divulge the information in his forthcoming book. The author previously penned the biography about Phil Mickelson and published Lefty's unflinching remarks about working with the 'scary' Saudis.

That led to his four-month break from professional golf. Mickelson is reportedly more concerned about the forthcoming memoire from Billy Walters. 

Related: Elin has 'no interest' in Tiger's latest legal drama

Shipnuck promises to spill the beans about the 'agent wars'.

Steinberg has been representing Woods, 47, since 1998. 

He has been described as "the de facto chief executive of Tiger's golf and endorsement empire".

The sports agent is thought of as among the "three or four most powerful people in golf".

The extract of the book will reportedly focus on Steinberg's Excel Sports Management and GSE Worldwide, which boasts a massive stable of professional golfers. 

As many as 11 signed with GSE are now plying their trade in the LIV Golf League

They are:

  • Bryson DeChambeau
  • Abraham Ancer
  • Paul Casey
  • Joaquin Niemann
  • Jason Kokrak
  • Sergio Garcia
  • Louis Oosthuizen
  • Carlos Ortiz
  • Sebastian Munoz
  • Eugeno Lopez Chacarra
  • Mito Pereira

Here's the segment from the most recent edition of AskAlan:

Sam Burns is the last big name (ish) GSE guy not to defect? What to make of this? @Hammbear2024
Oooh, you have struck a rich vein here. The management agency GSE Worldwide has sent a whopping 11 players to LIV. Meanwhile, Mark Steinberg’s Excel Sports Management has not a single LIV client. (Well, it did dump Thomas Pieters as soon as he signed.) In my LIV Tour book, I will go into the agent wars in great detail; Steinberg's role in all of this is fascinating. I hate to be a tease—actually, I love it!—but I gotta save this stuff for the book, Woodward-style.

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The news that Steinberg has played a significant role behind-the-scenes is hardly surprising, given that Woods has been a prominent critic of LIV Golf. 

Woods has even called for LIV's CEO and commissioner Greg Norman to step down

Steinberg hit the headlines earlier in the year when one of LIV's newer recruits, Belgium's Thomas Pieters, revealed he was dropped by the agent after he signed with the 'rebel' league for a $10m fee. 

Pieters described it as 'the weirdest thing ever'. 

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