Greg Norman said he’d win a debate with Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods on the topic of how those PGA Tour marquee names benefited financially from the upstart new circuit.
Norman served as LIV Golf’s commissioner and chief executive upon its inception before being replaced by Scott O’Neil last week.
Woods publicly called for Norman to step down from LIV Golf in the interests of mending fences between the breakaway circuit and the PGA Tour. McIlroy blamed Norman in part for a “civil war” in golf, previously saying that he should “exit stage left” to allow the “adults” to patch up the sport’s schism.
Norman told Australian Golf Digest he would love to have dialogue with McIlroy and Woods:
“I would love to sit down and talk to them about it, no question about it. Because I’m not a judgmental person and you only learn the facts and truth when you hear the other side of it. But, yes, would I like to sit down with them? Sure, absolutely. And you know what? I’d win the debate.”
Norman’s position is LIV Golf helped pad the wallets of players because of the PGA Tour’s Player Impact Program (PIP), which rewards players who drive engagement with sponsors and fans.
“I would love them to recognise the fact that – like Tiger with his PIP money – that only came because of LIV, right?” Norman added. “So Tiger benefited from that. Rory’s definitely benefited from that.”
With respect to the apparent bad blood between the parties, Norman contended that he has not watched the recently launched TGL's opening events.
“I haven’t watched a bit of it because there’s a couple of players who’ve been very vocal against me,” Norman said. “So I’m not going to say anything positive or negative about it. All I can say is: The more golf gets exposure in different ways, the better off it is.”
