GALLOWAY, N.J. >> Greg Norman tantalized the best women golfers in the world with a big-bucks flicker of hope that, they too — possibly anyone from a former world No. 1 like Nelly Korda to Stanford phenom Rose Zhang — could eventually revel in the spoils offered by Saudi-backed LIV Golf.

Norman, the commissioner of LIV Golf, insisted in April the upstart golf league propped by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund would consider adding a women’s tour.

“I have personally had discussions with individual LPGA Tour players, Ladies European Tour. They love what our product is showcasing,” Norman said. “They ask all the time, ‘How can we get involved?’ We’d love to see a LIV ladies series.”

Norman, who also boasted of more major men’s players to join the fledging series that failed to materialize, never named any women he met with to discuss LIV. But if any kind of offer ever comes that could inject a financial boon to the tour, the LPGA would at least be willing to listen, despite the Saudi’s troubling history when it comes to women’s rights.

Some women on the LPGA Tour currently play on the Ladies European Tour — which does receive Saudi funding — but there is not the disdain and animosity between LET and the LPGA that had existed between the PGA and LIV Golf.

The PGA Tour partnership with Saudi Arabia’s enormous wealth fund essentially left out the LPGA in the foreseeable future of any chance of at least considering the idea to defect and join a rival league that paid signing bonuses of $100 million or more to poach players from the PGA Tour.

While bonuses likely never would have soared that high — again, there was never any firm plan a women’s version of LIV was on the table — history showed the Saudi money surely would have been considerably more massive than any payout offered by the LPGA Tour.

“It’s definitely something I would look at,” 2010 U.S. Women’s Open champion Paula Creamer said Thursday. “I don’t know all the details about that. You have to weigh your options with everything these days.”

PGA players were blindsided this week by the unfathomable announcement. The LPGA field was even more unsure how the deal could affect them, if at all.

“Who knows what the next curve ball is,” American golfer Amy Olson said.

The Saudi overtures into the women’s game aren’t necessarily surprising given that the country is already tethered to the sport via its “Vision 2030” initiative aimed to diversify and reduce its dependence on oil.

The kingdom’s investments in sports and entertainment in recent years not only funded LIV Golf, it currently sponsors six events on the Ladies European Tour. The Aramco Team Series began in 2020 — two years before LIV was launched — and featured team and individual winners. Among the past champions are Korda and Lexi Thompson, two of the biggest draws on the LPGA Tour, while Lydia Ko won the Aramco Saudi Ladies International this year.

The LPGA Tour has joint ownership of the LET. State-run oil giant Saudi Aramco reported net profits of $161 billion in 2022 off higher crude oil prices, claiming the highest-ever recorded annual profit by a publicly listed company. It’s pockets are deep enough to spread the wealth into women’s golf.

The Saudi Ladies International had a $5 million purse this year — only the LPGA majors and its year-end Tour Championship pay more. The Aramco Team Series typically has a $500,000 prize fund — miniscule for LPGA Tour standards, nearly double most purses on the LET. The more opportunities abound to fatten the bank account, the greater the allure to play around the world.

No matter who may be pulling the strings.

“I’m a global player,” Creamer said ahead of this weekend’s LPGA Classic. “I have global sponsors. I travel all over the world for my partners.”