The future of LIV Golf commissioner and CEO Greg Norman appears murky after the Saudi-backed league joined forces with the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour on Tuesday.
The landmark deal was announced without any mention of Norman, and Yasir Al-Rumayyan – governor of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) – told CNBC that he notified Norman of the deal just before the announcement.
Greg Norman waves to the crowd during the LIV Golf Invitational – Miami on Oct. 30, 2022, in Doral, Florida. (Eric Espada/Getty Images)
“I made a call just before this and of course he is a partner with us, and all the stakeholders that we have with us, they had the call right before this interview,” Al-Rumayyan said, according to Sports Illustrated.
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Norman has been more of a “figurehead” at LIV as of late, and he is “not expected to be part of the venture going forward,” per the SI report.
LIV Golf did not immediately respond to request for comment.
Norman’s role in golf over the last few years has been one of disrupter as he became the face of the LIV Golf League.
Greg Norman congratulates Harold Varner III for his win at the LIV Golf Invitational – DC at Trump National Golf Club on May 28, 2023, in Sterling, Virginia. (Rob Carr/Getty Images)
In 2022, both Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy said Norman needed to depart LIV before the two sides could begin having discussions.
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“There’s a few things that I would like to see on the LIV side that needs to happen,” McIlroy said in November 2022. “I think Greg needs to go. 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.'”
Woods agreed with McIlroy, saying, “Greg’s got to leave” when asked how the two sides could co-exist.
Rory McIlroy during a practice round prior to the PGA Championship at Oak Hill Country Club on May 16, 2023, in Rochester, New York. (Andrew Redington/Getty Images)
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Now, LIV and the PGA Tour are tied at the hip with a goal to “unify the game of golf, on a global basis.”
The new agreement will merge the PIF’s golf-related businesses, which include LIV Golf, with that of the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour into a “new, collectively owned, for-profit entity to ensure that all stakeholders benefit from a model that delivers maximum excitement and competition among the game’s best players.”
Fox News’ Paulina Dedaj contributed to this report.
