Golf

Greg Norman to be replaced as LIV Golf chief executive

Former world number one has been CEO of breakaway tour since October 2021

Greg Norman after the Liv Golf tournament in Adelaide, Australia in April 2023. Photograph: Brenton Edwards/AFP via Getty Images
Greg Norman after the Liv Golf tournament in Adelaide, Australia in April 2023. Photograph: Brenton Edwards/AFP via Getty Images
Sun Dec 08 2024 - 13:04

LIV Golf chief executive Greg Norman had said he is to be replaced in the role.

The 69-year-old Australian has been CEO of the Saudi Arabia-funded breakaway circuit since October 2021, prior to the league’s first official season the following year.

Norman, the former world number one and two-time British Open champion, has often been seen as a divisive figure in golf’s civil war between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf.

Rory McIlroy, a staunch supporter of the established tours, said in November 2022 that Norman should quit to allow the “adults” to negotiate a peace settlement between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf.

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Norman, speaking in an interview in the United States with Indiana news TV station WISH-TV, said: “I’ve seen it (LIV Golf) come from a business model on paper to giving birth on the golf course to where it is today.

“Is there going to be a new CEO? Yes. There will be a new CEO. I’m fine with that.

“Will I always have a place and be involved with LIV to some capacity? Yes. I’ll always have that.

“Because the impact that has been created in the game of golf by LIV, I’ve had a small, small piece of that, which I’m proud of.”

The PGA Tour, DP World Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) have been attempting to negotiate a deal since announcing a shock “framework agreement” in June 2023.

Tiger Woods, a PGA Tour policy board member, expressed his frustration over talks this week, saying: “I think all of us who have been a part of this process would have thought it would have happened quicker than this.

“But we wish we would have had something more concrete and further along than we are right now.

“I think something will get done. In what form or shape, I don’t know yet.”