Greg Norman continues to be combative to the bitter end. According to the chief executive of LIV Golf, the merging of the Saudi royal wealth fund with the PGA Tour and DP World Tour will result in the breakaway league “not going anywhere” and thriving instead.
However, Norman is still, ostensibly, in the LIV hotseat and he seems determined to maintain a positive front while the separate parties pore over the specifics.
“The spigot is now wide open for commercial sponsorships, blue-chip companies, TV networks,” Norman told the LIV staff on a conference call on Wednesday before McIlroy’s scheduled press conference ahead of the RBC Canadian Open, according to SI.
“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.”
In the second half of the second LIV season, which will contain seven additional $25 million events and conclude in Jeddah in November, it will be interesting to see if Norman, 68, maintains that position. Although Monahan’s comments to the media do not augur well for the circuit, by that time the league will know if it has a place in the new global order.
Monahan was unsure when asked whether he could envision a scenario in which LIV will coexist with the PGA Tour in its current form in 2024.
Al Rummayan, who is also the chairman of Newcastle United, is adamant that LIV will exist, with or without the contentious moniker. Without a doubt, the LIV model has positively transformed golf, he asserted;
We believe there are opportunities for the game to evolve while also maintaining its storied history and tradition.”
It will indeed be business as usual for the LIV circus when this is all untangled and eventually repaired. In three weeks, it will arrive at Valderrama on the Costa del Sol, and the following week, St. Albans. Whether or not he is still holding to his fantasy, Norman may very well be in charge of this round-trip to Europe.
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