LIV Golf’s Greg Norman Still Hoping for Cooperation With PGA Tour: ‘We Did Not Create the Angst’
With a first LIV Golf season completed, Greg Norman is confident about the future for his league and believes there is still an avenue that would allow for cooperation between the various golf entities, including the PGA Tour.
Norman, in a conference call with reporters on Wednesday, said he’s “disappointed” about the “vitriol” and that he believes a good number of LIV Golf players would still like to compete in PGA Tour or DP World Tour events.
The two-time major championship winner and World Golf Hall of Famer is commissioner of the LIV Golf League. He said he last reached out to the PGA Tour and commissioner Jay Monahan “mid-year.” The Tour has declined a meeting with LIV Golf.
“I think the ball is in their court now,” Norman said. “We have tried on many angles, many fronts. It’s very disappointing, this vitriol, this ill will. I can tell you with my hand on my heart, all of the PGA Tour players and DP World Tour players who played with LIV ... they want to [be able to] go back and play on the PGA Tour. Some of them are now saying no. But in the beginning they all wanted to go back.
“The PGA Tour has created this angst. We did not create the angst. Why does competition create heartburn? Why the vitriol?”
Going back to his playing days, Norman has long been critical of the PGA Tour for not allowing more freedom among players.
Monahan issued warnings early on that players who took part in LIV Golf events were subject to sanctions for violating membership rules. The PGA Tour requires its members to play a minimum of 15 events and seek releases—basically permission—to compete in conflicting events. It will typically allow three of those per year, with further requests evaluated.
But Monahan and the Tour did not grant releases to the first LIV Golf event outside of London, and it has never approved releases for conflicting domestic events, of which there were five this year with LIV Golf. Players who have participated were initially suspended by the PGA Tour and have since seen their memberships revoked. Several players, including Dustin Johnson and Sergio Garcia, simply resigned their membership.
For there to be any kind of collaboration, there clearly needs to be compromise. Asked whether he felt the Tour should reduce the number of events for its members to be eligible, Norman did not offer specific ideas.
“I think it’s a very easy fix,” he said. “I think there are two, maybe three items that can be discussed. I personally see it as an easy fix. The only way you find out is you have a dialogue. You find out. You sit down and have a conversation. What’s wrong with finding out what a competitor might be willing to do? To shove a stake in the ground and a make a beachhead everybody believes is impenetrable, that’s not healthy for golf.
“What’s healthy is competition. What we’ve delivered in eight weeks is incredible. Sure, there are naysayers out there. The PGA Tour has been the only place you could go, the only place we could play golf, the only place where the best of golf could go. Competition is the healthiest form and helps build businesses.”
LIV Golf completed its season Sunday at Doral with its Team Championship, won by the 4 Aces, composed of Johnson, Patrick Reed, Talor Gooch and Pat Perez. The team won $16 million from the $50 million purse.
Johnson was the best player throughout a season-long individual points competition, bringing him an $18 million bonus. With other earnings and team payouts, he made more than $35 million in eight events, which doesn’t include his upfront signing bonus.
Norman touted having 13 of the top 50 players in the world.
A season of 14 LIV Golf events is planned for 2023, and this is where Norman’s vision of a truce runs into obstacles.
If a PGA Tour player is required to play 15 events (including the major championship) and LIV requires 14, a total of 29 events is beyond what most top players will do,
As it is, the PGA Tour has instituted a new plan for 2023 in which it will require players to compete 20 times—the four majors, the Players, 12 elevated events and three other tournaments of their choosing—in order to be eligible for its $100 million Player Impact Program bonus pool. The two sides would appear far apart in making that math work—unless both are willing to reduce their commitments.
Norman addressed several other topics, including World Ranking points, a television contract, the 2023 schedule and the team structure that will see movement among players in this offseason.
He also said LIV Golf is willing to be patient as it attempts to monetize the 12-team model that would ultimately see franchises bought by ownership groups or individuals—thus providing an income source for LIV Golf.
“I’ve already been approached by individuals who have expressed an interest in wanting to be involved in either owning a percentage or acquiring a team,” Norman said. “Those discussions are there already. We’ve not there as a league yet to entertain that. The value of the league and each team will go up as the success gets seen on a global basis. There will be a heck of a lot more value as you come out of 2023. A lot of these teams are not built up yet.”