Players and tours outside of LIV Golf will have some “interesting decisions” to make in the immediate future according to Australian legend Greg Norman who went on the offensive in Adelaide declaring the continued growth of his new tour was the best thing for the sport.
Another Australian LIV event, a women’s LIV tour, the “incredible” amount of interest in players joining, ongoing legal action and the new tour’s links to Saudi Arabia were all on the agenda as Norman went in to full Commissioner mode on Thursday.
As South Australian premier Peter Malinauskas defended his government’s decision to partner with the Saudi-funded league, declaring Australia was a long-time trading partner of the oil-rich nation, Norman said he “had not” spoken to his investors about their human rights record.
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Instead he sold the virtues of LIV as force for good and called any ongoing criticism of LIV’s origins and its place in the ecosystem “white noise”. He said the buzz around the inaugural event in Adelaide proved it was delivering “what fans want.”
On the question of another Australian event in particular, Norman said his phone was “ringing off the hook” with would-be hosts, but he couldn’t confirm if or when that might come to fruition.
“It‘s not just Australia, it’s the rest of the world, as well, too,” he said.
“The message is getting out there, and the product is showing itself. We’re focused on the next 72 hours, and let’s see what happens after that.”
Norman said he had spoken to several leading female players and that they ask him “all the time, how can we get involved” and was positive about something being created.
“The answer to the question is yes, we talk about it internally, and I have had discussions with individual lady players, professional players,” he said.
“I’d love to see a ladies series.”
As Norman reiterated previous sentiments about the PGA Tour needing to embrace the LIV revolution rather than “putting up road blocks”, he said the value of having his players like Aussie star Cameron Smith at the Masters was more evidence it was them who needed to align with him, not the other way around.
“You know, as you look into the future with a crystal ball, they‘ve got to make some interesting decisions for themselves, for the players and where we’re going to go and what we’re going to do,” he said.
“LIV is not changing anything, and we’ve always been consistent for the last 15 months of saying we’re happy to sit down with you, we’re happy to talk to you.
“We’ve tried with the PGA Tour, consistently with zero, zilch, nothing. That’s their choice. If that’s your decision, fine, we’re okay with that. So we’ll just keep going and doing what we’re doing.
“So LIV is the force for good, and now guys want to play.
“I‘ll put my player’s hat back on and I’ll put my representation of the game of golf back on. I do hope there gets to a position where there is resolution to this, because the game of golf doesn’t need to suffer.”
As he addressed more critics about being funded by the Saudi Arabian government’s Public Investment Fund, Norman said he had never felt the need to talk to them about the country’s horror human rights record.
“Because I‘m the chairman and CEO of LIV Golf Investments, and that’s where I focus. I focus on golf,” he said.
“Golf is a force for good. I’ve been involved with golf, like I said, as a player, as well as golf course design. I’ve built some golf courses in third-world countries. I’ve built golf courses in Communist countries.
“It goes everywhere with the right platform because it delivers the right message, from education to hospitality to employment to tourism. Everywhere you go, golf is a force for good.”
