Norman: PGA Tour guilty of ‘deafening hypocrisy’ over LIV and Saudi finance
Greg Norman has accused the PGA Tour of “deafening hypocrisy” and demanded that commissioner Jay Monahan recused himself from the decision whether to grant world ranking points to the Saudi rebel circuit.
Norman, chief executive of the LIV Golf Invitational Series, revealed that the board of the Official World Golf Rankings would receive LIV’S formal application by this evening and insisted that it should be rubber-stamped. The issue is seen as a key battlefield in the fight between LIV and the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour – formerly the European Tour – with the access to ranking points crucial for the rebel players’ hopes of appearing in future majors.
Here at the US Open on Wednesday, Mike Whan, executive director of the US Golf Association, said he could envision scenarios that would make it much harder for LIV Series players to compete in the US Open.
Whan is on the OWGR board, as is Monahan and Keith Pelley, chief executive of the DP World Tour, as well as Martin Slumbers, the R&A chief executive, and Norman is keen to put as much pressure as possible on the panel.
“We’re applying for OWGR points right now. We’re putting in our application probably over the weekend, if not Monday,” Norman told Fox News. “It’s a compelling application. We’ve worked very closely with the technical committee understanding all the components of what you need to apply for it. It’s going to be interesting because on the board that votes on the OWGR points for anybody new coming in, here’s Jay Monahan. Now, it’ll be interesting to see if Jay Monahan recuses himself from that vote.
“So it’s very interesting and it’s sad to be putting that additional exerting pressure on it because our tour is a good tour. It’s supported, it’s got an incredible field. If we get the OWGR points, then everything else takes care of itself.”
Monahan, speaking to CBS, called LIV “a series of exhibition matches against the same players over and over again”.
He also shone a spotlight on the ethical concerns he believes the rebel players should harbour over
Saudi “sportswashing”. “It’s not an issue for me, because I don’t work for the Saudi Arabian government. It probably is an issue for those players that chose to take that money,” Monahan said.
“You have to ask the question… why? Why is this group spending so much money recruiting players and chasing a concept with no possibility of a return? How is this good for the game that we love? Tell me, when has a player ever had to apologise for playing on the PGA Tour.”
Inevitably, this raised Norman’s ire. “Look, I’m disappointed people go down that path, quite honestly,” he said, when asked about the charges of LIV being bankrolled by “blood money”.
“If they want to look at it in prism, then why does the PGA Tour have 23 sponsors doing business worth $40billion-plus with Saudi Arabia? Why is it okay for the sponsors? Will Jay Monahan go to each and every one of those CEOS of the 23 companies that are investing into Saudi Arabia and suspend them and ban them? The hypocrisy in all this, it’s so loud. It’s deafening.
“The European Tour had a golf tournament, the Saudi International that’s still in existence since 2019. During that Saudi International, there were PGA Tour players who were given rights and waivers to go play there. So to me, if golf is good for the world, golf is good for Saudi, and you’re seeing that growth internally. It’s extremely impressive.”
The first $25million no-cut LIV event took place in Hertfordshire this month and next week the series arrives in America for its second tournament in Portland, Oregon, with Bryson Dechambeau and Patrick Reed two of the confirmed new players in the 48-man field.
Monahan issued indefinite bans to the 17 PGA Tour golfers who played in Hemel Hempstead and will also ban anyone else who appears on the LIV roster.