Questions swirl over Norman’s LIV tour
Golf is in turmoil as it braces for the launch of a new Saudi-backed breakaway tour but figurehead Greg Norman is confident it will be a success despite a host of unresolved issues.
The LIV Golf Invitational Series plans eight events this year but no player names have yet been announced.
There is also uncertainty over broadcast deals and whether ranking points will be on offer. Questions over the source of the funding persist with Norman grilled over concerns about Saudi backing for the new tour when he faced the press in Britain last week.
The battle lines have been drawn, with the PGA Tour refusing to release members for next month’s opening event in England, which clashes with the tour’s Canadian Open.
The DP World Tour, formerly known as the European Tour, has been more opaque, saying it is “evaluating each request on a case-by-case basis”.
Former world No.1 Norman, chief executive of LIV Golf Investments, accused the PGA Tour of “perpetuating its illegal monopoly on what should be a free and open market”.
Six-time major winner Phil Mickelson and former world No.1 Lee Westwood have asked for permission to play in the inaugural LIV event at the Centurion Club in St Albans, outside London, and Sergio Garcia’s name is also understood to be in the frame.
But others have rejected the new golf circuit, including world No.2 Jon Rahm and four-time major champion Rory McIlroy, as players gather in Tulsa, Oklahoma for this week’s PGA Championship.
Two-time British Open champion Norman, 67, appears unperturbed by the lack of guaranteed star names just a few weeks away from the start of the 54-hole tournament, which takes place from June 9-11.
NEXT SUPERSTAR
The Australian believes, in the long term, the top players will be attracted to the new tour, but he does not think it needs the biggest stars to be a success from the start.
“If none of the top 20 wanted to come in, we’re still going to go ahead,” he said.
“There’s still value in there. Imagine if that 15-year-old kid TK [Thai golfer Ratchanon Chantananuwat who is nicknamed TK]... came in and won if he’s playing here, if he won the first event.
“He’s the next superstar. We’re giving that opportunity to that kid or an amateur to come in here to have that opportunity.”
The teenage golf sensation won the Asian Mixed Cup on home soil last month to become the youngest male player to win on one of the game’s major tours. The event was sanctioned by the Asian Tour and the Ladies European Tour.
Norman said he had spoken to “50 to 60 players” and they were starting to realise their rights as independent contractors to play where they wanted.
He is adamant that he is not spoiling for a fight but is braced for a legal battle and has pledged to pay players’ fines if necessary.
Money is certainly not an issue for the LIV Series, with an eye-watering
US$25 million of prize money on offer at each regular-season event, where players will compete as individuals and in teams. Norman last week announced the tour had been given an extra $2 billion in funding to expand the schedule.
$100 MILLION OFFER
Golfing icon Jack Nicklaus said he turned down an offer worth more than $100 million to act as one of the faces of the LIV Golf International Series, US reports said on Monday.
The 82-year-old 18-time major winner revealed the lucrative offers in remarks published by the Fire Pit Collective website on Monday.
Nicklaus said he turned down the offers out of loyalty to the PGA Tour.
“I was offered something in excess of $100 million by the Saudis, to do the job probably similar to the one that Greg [Norman] is doing,” Nicklaus was quoted as saying.
“I turned it down. Once verbally, once in writing. I said, ‘Guys, I have to stay with the PGA Tour. I helped start the PGA Tour.’”