LIV chief executive Greg Norman says he is not the least bit bothered by criticism from PGA Tour golfers Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy.
As the acrimonious spat between the two tours heats up, Norman said he pays no attention to anything Woods and McIlroy say.
Greg Norman, chief executive and commissioner of LIV Golf.Credit:Getty
Earlier this week, Woods said Norman “has to go”, the same sentiment McIlroy offered last month.
“I pay zero attention to McIlroy and Woods, right?” Norman told Today’s Golfer. “They have their agenda for whatever reason. They’re saying whatever they want to say. It has no bearing or effect on me. I’m going to be with LIV for a long, long period of time.”
The new tour, backed by the Saudis, has whisked away many PGA golfers due to higher financial payouts.
Meanwhile, golfers loyal to the PGA Tour have been irked by the way Norman-led LIV operates.
There is also the matter of both sides filing suit against the other.
Woods said the two tours can’t find peace until Norman is removed from his leadership role.
“I see that there’s an opportunity out there if both organisations put a stay on their litigation,” Woods said on Tuesday at the Hero World Challenge, where he is the event’s host. “But that’s the problem – they’ve got to put a stay on it. And whether or not they do that or not, there’s no willingness to negotiate if you have a litigation against you.
“So if they both have a stay and then have a break and then they can meet and figure something out, then maybe there is something to be had. But I think Greg has to go, first of all, and then obviously litigation against us and then our countersuit against them, those would then have to be at a stay as well. So then we can talk, we can all talk freely.”
Woods remarks were similar to those McIlroy made at the DP World Tour Championship last month.
“So I think there’s a few things that need to happen,” McIlroy said. “So there’s obviously two lawsuits going on at the minute – there’s PGA Tour versus LIV, and there’s this one that’s coming up with the DP World Tour in February. Nothing will happen if those two things are still going on, especially – yeah, you’re limited in what you can do.
“And then I think from whatever happens with those two things, there’s a few things that I would like to see on the LIV side that needs to happen. I think Greg needs to go. I think he just needs to 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’.”
Norman believes he can be the one to mend fences despite what Woods and McIlroy think.
“Of course it can happen under my leadership,” Norman told Today’s Golfer. “I mean, Tiger might be a messenger, right? Who knows? All I know is we are going to keep doing what we’re doing with LIV, and we are just going to keep moving forward.”
In fact, the two-time major winner and World Golf Hall of Famer says he is doing a stellar job running LIV.
“No matter where I go in the world, nobody – not one person – has said what I’m doing is stupid or wrong,” Norman said.
Reuters
