Greg Norman has not been mentioned with repect to the merger of the PGA Tour, the Saudi Public Investment Fund and the DP World Tour since the announcement, but he is under the impression LIV Golf will remain intact.
The merger will create a new golf entity, which has shaken up the sport since it was revealed Tuesday morning.
And while PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan and PFI’s Yasir Al-Rumayyan were mentioned in a news release, Norman was not named, making many wonder if his position as LIV Golf’s CEO is coming to an end.
Norman reportedly hosted a 30-minute Zoom for more than 100 people, according to Sports Illustrated, during which he said, “We’re not going anywhere.”
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“The spigot is now wide open for commercial sponsorships, blue chip companies, TV networks,” Norman said, according to someone on the call who did not want 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.”
GREG NORMAN ‘NOT EXPECTED’ TO BE PART OF VENTURE AFTER LIV GOLF-PGA TOUR MERGER: REPORT
Sports Illustrated previously reported that Norman is “not expected to be part of the venture going forward.” Some believe proof of that comes with Al-Rumayyan admitting he contacted Norman about the merger just before the announcement was made. Norman, like many others in the game, had no clue what was going on until the announcement.
Norman has been front and center since LIV Golf’s inception, which irked the likes of Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods, among others.
“I think Greg needs to go,” McIlroy said in November. “I think he needs to just exit stage left. He’s made his mark, but I think now is the right time to sort of say, ‘Look, you’ve got this thing off the ground, but no one is going to talk unless there’s an adult in the room that can actually try to mend fences.'”
McIlroy also told reporters ahead of the RBC Canadian Open Wednesday he believes LIV Golf will cease to exist following this merger.
“The one thing I think was really misconstrued yesterday was all the headlines were PGA Tour merges with LIV,” he explained, via Sky Sports News. “LIV’s got nothing to do with this. The PGA Tour, DP World Tour and the Public Investment Fund are basically partnering to create a new company. I think that’s where I was a little frustrated because all I’ve wanted to do and all I’ve wanted in the past year from basically this tournament is to protect the future of the PGA Tour and protect the aspirational nature of what the PGA Tour stands for.
“I hope that this does that, but I think with the headlines being ‘merges with LIV,’ that’s not — if you look at how it’s structured down, this new company sits above everything. Jay’s the CEO of that, so technically anyone that’s involved with LIV now would answer to Jay. The PGA Tour has control over everything.”
Woods added, “Greg’s got to leave,” when asked if LIV Golf and the PGA Tour could coexist.
There has been no official word about Norman’s status with the new entity, which has yet to be named.
Now, LIV and the PGA Tour are tied at the hip with a goal to “unify the game of golf, on a global basis.”
Fox News’ Joe Morgan and Paulina Dedaj contributed to this report.
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