'We're Not Going Anywhere': Greg Norman Tells LIV Golf Staff That the League Will Continue
Greg Norman so far has not commented publicly but the commissioner of the LIV Golf League had a bullish message for those employed by the company during a conference call on Wednesday morning.
Norman, who was not mentioned in any of the news releases associated with the agreement between the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and Public Investment Fund that was announced Tuesday, told more than 100 people on a 30-minute call that LIV will see no operational changes and that work is already being done on a 2025 schedule.
"The spigot is now wide open for commercial sponsorships, blue-chip companies, TV networks," Norman said according to a person on the call who wished not to be identified.
"LIV is and will continue to be a standalone enterprise. Our business model will not change. We changed history and we're not going anywhere."
LIV's model and even branding is in doubt due to the shocking announcement that the PGA Tour would now partner with the Public Investment Fund—Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund and the financial backer of LIV Golf.
Under the arrangement announced by the three groups on Tuesday, a separate for-profit entity—yet to be named—would be formed under the PGA Tour banner and collectively held by the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and the PIF, which would have a minority equity ownership share.
But how that entity proceeds is in question. When Monahan was asked Tuesday during a news conference if he envisioned a scenario where LIV would exist next year alongside the PGA Tour in its current format, he said:
"I can't see that scenario, but I haven’t gotten the full evaluation, the full empirical evaluation of LIV that I'm going to do to be able to comment on that. But I don’t see that scenario, no. To me, any scenarios that you’re thinking about that bridge between the PGA Tour and LIV would be longer term in nature."
Rory McIlroy also pushed back on the idea that LIV would exist as it does now.
"I would say an element of team golf might still stay," McIlroy said. "My hope is it won't be under the LIV umbrella. It will hopefully look very different to what LIV has been."
He then added: "It’s not LIV. I still hate LIV. I hope it goes away. And I fully expect that it does. ... It’s very different from LIV. I’ve tried to protect what the PGA Tour is and what the PGA Tour stands for. There may be a team element, but I don’t think it will look anything like LIV has looked. And I think that's a good thing."
LIV has played seven events this year in its second season with 48-player fields consisting of 12 four-man teams. Each player competes in an individual portion of the tournament for $20 million in prize money, with a separate $5 million purse for the top teams.
All along, LIV Golf has pitched the team concept as a basis for its business model. The hope was to sell "franchises" to owners, with team captains such as Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau given a 25% ownership stake.
The rest of a franchise fee would go to LIV Golf, which was already deep into lining up a 2024 schedule.
Norman, the Hall of Fame golfer who won two major championships and more than 80 tournaments around the world, was hired in 2021 to be the CEO of LIV Golf Investments and the commissioner of the LIV Golf League.
One of its first steps was to fund a new series of tournaments as part of the Asian Tour called the International Series, with a $200 million commitment over 10 years. The International Series top player gets a LIV spot the following year.
Norman has been less visible this year and a source told Sports Illustrated that his decision-making role has been lessened. He was not mentioned by Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the governor of the PIP who was interviewed on CNBC on Tuesday when the news of the arrangement broke. He was also not part of the news release explaining the plan.