Tiger Woods turned down an offer of about $1 billion to take part in the Saudi-funded LIV Golf series, Greg Norman says.

During an appearance on Fox News in the US with Tucker Carlson that aired Monday night, Norman confirmed what he told the Washington Post in a story two months ago.

Norman told the Post in June the offer was “mind-blowingly enormous; we’re talking about high nine digits”.

He said it was “somewhere in that neighbourhood of $US700 million ($998 million) to $800 million ($1.14 billion)”.

Woods has been opposed to LIV Golf since late last year. He delivered his strongest comments at the British Open when he said players who took the money funded by the Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund had “turned their back” on the PGA Tour that made them famous.

When an offer was made to Woods was not clear.

“That number was out there before I became CEO,” Norman said in the Fox News interview on Sunday at Trump National in Bedminster, New Jersey, where the third LIV Golf Invitational was held.

“And, look, Tiger is a needle-mover and of course you have to look at the best of the best,” Norman said.

“So they had originally approached Tiger before I became CEO.”

Various reports out of Britain have said Phil Mickelson received a $US200 million ($285 million) signing bonus, while fellow American Dustin Johnson received $US150 million ($214 million).

The 48-man fields, which play 54 holes with no cut, offer $US25 million ($26 million) in prize money at each event.

LIV Golf currently has only one player – Johnson at No.18 – from the top 20 in the world.

It is reportedly trying to lure across Australia’s world No.2 Cameron Smith.

The source of the funding has led to sharp criticism of the series and the players who have enlisted because it is viewed as an attempt to distract attention from Saudi Arabia’s human rights record and links to the September 11 terrorist attacks.