Tiger Woods‘ former agent, John Hughes Norton III, met his family when Woods was still an amateur. He went on to negotiate the biggest brand endorsement deals for Tiger Woods and built him into the highest-paid golfer on the planet. Nearly three decades later, he shares a phone call from that stretch, and it has stayed with him.

Norton shared his memory on The Big Swing with Jimmy Roberts while discussing his new book, Rainmaker. When asked to expand on an alleged backstab incident, he didn’t hold back.

“So we started putting together the paperwork. Drafts went back and forth. Tiger was turning pro in Milwaukee in August 1996. This was late July. Everything was almost finalized—the i’s dotted and the t’s crossed. Earl said, ‘He brought a message from Phil Knight: do the deal with us directly. You don’t need IMG and can save the commission. ‘That is backstabbing of the highest order.” Norton recalled at the show.

“I’d been in meetings with Phil during those months while I was spending time at Nike. Not every meeting, but a couple of them. I was just in shock because that’s a very appealing pitch if you’re Earl Woods. Twenty percent of $40 million is a lot of money,” he added.

In the summer of 1996. Tiger Woods had just won his third U.S. amateur title and was preparing to turn professional at the Greater Milwaukee Open. The only missing piece, as per Norton, was a major endorsement deal. Nike, the athletic brand, meanwhile, had barely ventured into golf.

It was a sharp contrast as the brand built its image on the biggest stars, athletes like Michael Jordan and Andre Agassi. Believing the company was ready to make a serious push into sport, Norton spent months trying to convince Phil Knight, the CEO, to bet on Tiger Woods.

He spent months at Nike headquarters building that case, mostly with sports marketing director Steve Miller. His pitch was simple. Nike backed the best in every sport, and golf still had no equivalent star. After months, the deal finally started taking shape. Just before, however, the contracts closed, Norton got a call from Earl Woods, Tiger Woods’ father.

Norton relives the moment as he shares that Earl Woods called him in to share unexpected news. A young Nike executive had shown up at the Woods family home. He carried a message straight from Phil Knight, the chairman and CEO. Skip the deal, skip the agent, deal with Nike directly, and keep the commission. Norton shares that the commission would have been 20% of the $40 million.

Norton had been in meetings with Knight himself during that stretch. He had built trust with him over the months.

Despite the tempting offer, Earl Woods turned the offer down on the spot and told the executive he trusted Norton, not a back channel. Norton still calls it a “blockbuster attempted betrayal” and admits that even decades later, he wanted an explanation he never got.

How Hughes Norton helped build Tiger Woods’ endorsement empire

Hughes Norton built the financial foundation of Tiger Woods’ career by securing an unprecedented $60 million in endorsement contracts before Woods ever struck a ball as a professional golfer.

As the head of the golf division at the International Management Group (IMG), Norton leveraged his immense industry experience, having previously managed icons like Arnold Palmer and Greg Norman, to construct a commercial blueprint that transformed a 20-year-old rookie into the highest-earning active golfer on earth overnight.

Norton’s influence began long before Woods turned professional in August 1996. He first visited the Woods family home in Cypress, California, in 1989, when Tiger was just 12 years old.

Years later, when Woods decided to turn professional after winning his third consecutive U.S. Amateur title, Norton did not just seek typical golf sponsorships. He orchestrated a strategy that split apparel and equipment into separate blockbuster contracts.

Norton was Tiger Woods’ agent for two years, starting in August 1996. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that the Nike deal became the foundation of partnerships that ran for years. Norton went on to negotiate Tiger’s Titleist, American Express, and Rolex deals.

Eventually, Woods’ endorsement value crossed $100 million before he had won a single major as a pro.

Norton was a part of Tiger’s tightest circles through his rise to world number one and his first Masters win in 1997. However, the partnership ended in 1998, and the two have had little contact since.