Fact Check

Is Tiger Woods suing Pete Hegseth for $50M?

The first, and perhaps most obvious, hint that the story was fabricated was that Hegseth no longer works for Fox News.

by Emery Winter, Published Oct. 7, 2025


Side-by-side portrait photos of Tiger Woods and Pete Hegseth. Woods, on left, is smiling, wearing a suit, and has a medal around his neck. Hegseth, on right, is in front of a microphone and wearing a suit

Image courtesy of Gage Skidmore via Wikimedia Commons/Getty Images


Claim:
In 2025, professional golfer Tiger Woods sued former Fox News host and current U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth for $50 million after Hegseth attacked Woods in an on-air interview.
Rating:
False

About this rating


In October 2025, social media posts began spreading a story that claimed professional golfer Tiger Woods sued U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth for $50 million for "questioning the golf legend's integrity" during a Fox News interview between the two. Prior to his fall 2024 nomination as the defense secretary, Hegseth spent seven years as a Fox News host.

The story spread through multiple popular Facebook (archived) posts (archived) and also made its way to other social media sites, such as Threads (archived).

Some posts contained text reading:

"BEATEN BEATEN — PAY NOW! Tiger Woods Sues Pete Hegseth and Network for $50 Million After Shocking On-Air Attack"

What began as a routine interview quickly escalated into a full-blown showdown. Pete Hegseth directly attacked Tiger Woods, questioning the golf legend's integrity and calling out the "system" Woods is accused of representing.

But Tiger didn't flinch. Known for his composure on the green, Woods proved once again he's unstoppable under pressure, turning the tables on Hegseth's incendiary remarks.

The result? A $50 million lawsuit against Hegseth and the network, shocking viewers and sending ripples across the sports and media world. Social media erupted with support for Woods, heated debates about accountability, and speculation about the fallout for the late-night host.

 

The story was entirely fabricated. Not only was there no evidence the lawsuit existed, but there was also no reason to believe the interview ever took place.

Searches for "Tiger Woods sues Pete Hegseth" on Google, DuckDuckGo, Bing and Yahoo found no credible news media outlets reporting on the supposed lawsuit. A search for videos of "Tiger Woods Fox News interview" did not return any recent Tiger Woods interviews on Fox News. Prominent news media outlets would have widely reported this rumor, if true, and it's likely Fox News would have made a recording of the interview available, if one existed.

Such an interview was extremely unlikely to take place in 2025, largely because Hegseth stopped working for Fox News once Donald Trump, then the president-elect, nominated him as secretary of defense in November 2024. As of October 2025, Hegseth had not interviewed anyone as a network host since then.

The Facebook posts linked to advertisement-filled blogs, likely in an attempt to generate revenue from the inflammatory rumor. This pattern follows a formula commonplace in fake stories about celebrities posted to Facebook.

This particular rumor was nearly identical to another (archived) posted to Facebook around the same time. According to that version, professional golfer Rory McIlroy apparently sued Hegseth and Fox News for the exact same amount and over the exact same comments. The Facebook post about McIlroy also linked to a blog post posing as a news story, just like the posts about Woods, and described an interview similar to the interview described by the blogs targeting Woods.

Snopes has fact-checked a number of false stories following similar formulas.


By Emery Winter

Emery Winter is based in Charlotte, North Carolina, and previously worked for TEGNA'S VERIFY national fact-checking team. They enjoy sports and video games.

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