Greg Norman remains to be indignant concerning the remedy of professional golfers who joined LIV Golf.
Bryan Lynn/Icon Sportswire through Getty Images
We nonetheless haven’t any phrase on the progress (or lack thereof) in negotiations between the PGA Tour and the Saudi Arabia PIF, which funds LIV Golf. And whereas LIV CEO Greg Norman isn’t ready to plan for the long run, he nonetheless has one foot caught in the warring previous, as he revealed in a brand new interview.
Sitting down with Bloomberg News, Norman talked in element concerning the present state of LIV and his imaginative and prescient for the years to return, however he additionally dipped again into the controversial origins of the upstart league, and the hurdles they confronted from the remainder of the golf world.
Here’s why Greg Norman ‘feels sorry’ for LIV Golf’s critics
Josh Sens
“There was a lot of headwinds in the beginning because the monopolists really controlled the game on a global basis,” Norman instructed Bloomberg. “And we came along with a platform or a business model that could work side-by-side within the ecosystem.”
Despite the criticism he and his Tour confronted in the media, Norman conversely claimed that he confronted no such resistance to LIV in particular person.
“Nowhere in my entire journey in the last three years since I’ve been CEO and commissioner [of LIV Golf] has someone come up to me and said, ‘What you are doing is wrong.’ And I think that’s a powerful enough testament of saying that our product is our product and our product is received with open arms by many.”
But he additionally threw a thinly-veiled shot throughout the bow of the PGA Tour, saying, “By a few who want to stop us for all the wrong reasons, they haven’t been able to sustain their position in the game of golf. What we have done brilliantly is injected more capital into the game of golf. Golf is finally looked on as an asset class.”
Norman saved his strongest phrases for the early critics of LIV Golf, particularly these criticizing the primary wave of professionals who joined up, calling the remedy of these gamers “disgusting.”
“And I compliment the boys who came on, the first movers. They came on with a massive amount of headwinds,” Norman stated. “The vitriol and the hatred was just disgusting, to be honest with you, considering what these guys have done in the game of golf and how they’ve carried the game of golf and the institutions they represented, was disgusting.”
As for the long run, Norman sees LIV taking management of the sport of golf exterior of the U.S. and pointed to LIV’s venue lineup as proof of their success in that pursuit.
“We began out a pair years in the past doing about 9 and 5 [venues] — 9 in the U.S. and 5 worldwide. And now that’s flipped. So the worldwide scene, the worldwide scene has opened their arms to us in a major means. The USA is getting there, however the globe has opened up their arms.
“So ultimately, what we’ll end up doing is taking the game on a global basis.”
Despite Norman’s confidence, the way forward for LIV Golf may be very a lot up in the air. Until negotiations on an official settlement between the PGA Tour and the PIF is finalized, we received’t know the way LIV will match into that image.
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