LIV boss Greg Norman tells staff it’s business as usual despite bombshell merger with the PGA – after he was kept in the dark about end of the golf war that’s rumoured to have cost him his job
Greg Norman hailed LIV Golf for ‘changing history’ but did not clarify his immediate future following the bombshell merger between the PGA Tour and the Saudi-backed circuit.
In a shock move, on Tuesday morning the PGA and European Tours signed an agreement with LIV Golf to combine their businesses into a new company.
The surprising announcement came less than one year after PGA commissioner Jay Monahan insisted such an arrangement was ‘off the table.’
Significantly, however, Norman was not mentioned in the joint statements released by the PGA Tour, the DP World Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF).
The Australian has served as LIV Golf chief executive since the controversial operation was launched in 2021, but he was not listed as an initial member of the new board being created for the unified front.
Greg Norman’s future as LIV Golf CEO is under a cloud following the merger with the PGA Tour
The absence of any official recognition for Normal led to speculation the 68-year-old could be ousted from the newly-formed company.
But the two-time major winner insisted that was not the case.
‘The spigot is now wide open for commercial sponsorships, blue-chip companies, TV networks,’ he said on a LIV Golf conference call on Wednesday, according to Sports Illustrated.
‘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.’
On Tuesday, Norman celebrated the merger by tweeting: ‘A great day in global golf for players and fans alike. The journey continues!!’
Mail Sport previously reported that sources have insisted for months that the LIV CEO had been marginalized by the breakaway circuit, having served his initial purpose of launching the series in 2022 amid tremendous disruption and chaos to the traditional ecosystem.
His tenure is understood be under severe threat, though LIV did not respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.
The new company will be chaired by PIF Governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan (left)
But Norman told LIV Golf staff on Wednesday it was business as usual after the merger
When asked if Norman knew about the deal, PIF Governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan, who will chair the new entity, told CNBC: ‘I made the call just before this [interview].’
The merger represents a major victory for LIV Golf which has been shunned by superstar players including Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy.
Since their inception in 2021, LIV Golf succeeded in bringing in some of the world’s top players, spending hundreds of millions on the likes of Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson and Phil Mickelson. Woods was offered a $1 billion deal that he ultimately turned down.
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12172961 LIV boss Greg Norman tells staff it’s business as usual despite bombshell merger with the PGA – after he was kept in the dark about end of the golf war that’s rumoured to have cost him his job