Norman: LIV will continue as is
While the future of LIV Golf has been the subject of ongoing speculation, Greg Norman, the organization’s chief executive, said the breakaway circuit plans to continue staging events in 2024.
In an email to company employees obtained by The Washington Post, Norman looked ahead to LIV Golf’s future and offered the most hopeful sign to date that the Saudi-backed series plans to continue operations should its planned partnership with the PGA Tour become finalized, which probably won’t happen for several months.
“As we look ahead to the second half of this season and into 2024, especially with legal disputes behind us, I could not be more optimistic about the opportunities ahead,” Norman said in the email, which was sent Friday. “Our 2024 schedule is nearing completion, which will feature world-class venues both familiar and new, continuing to bring out the very best in our players.”
Norman’s message comes amid unanswered questions about golf’s future following LIV’s shocking alliance earlier this month with the rival PGA Tour. Neither the PGA Tour nor LIV Golf has made any conclusive statements about LIV’s future beyond its current season, and PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan has said only that there would be a “a good-faith effort to look at team golf and the role it can play going forward.”
But the future of LIV isn’t necessarily Norman’s call, and even if he’s planning for the future, other stakeholders could have different plans. Under terms of the agreement between the PGA Tour and the Saudi Public Investment Fund, which owns and operates LIV, Monahan would effectively have oversight over LIV Golf and the future of a team-based competition. Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the head of PIF who is poised to pump billions into the sport, would surely have influence and is a staunch believer in LIV’s team format.
Norman’s own future with LIV Golf is also uncertain as his duties and role beyond the 2023 season have not been publicized. The email comes midway through LIV’s second season, a week before the circuit stages an event at Royal Valderrama Club in Spain.
The email offered few other details as Norman reflected on the organization’s growth and looked ahead to its future.
“As you know, we started from scratch.” Norman wrote. “We had no players, venues, sponsors, broadcast partners, teams, or hospitality tents. What we did have, though, was an intense desire to do something that would forever contribute to professional golf. It is safe to say that, together, we have accomplished just that.
“In just one year, through 14 events, in eight countries, on four continents, you have helped bring golf to a new generation of fans, with hundreds of millions in economic impact. In the process, you have exposed millions of people online, on television, and in-person — with recent record crowds in Adelaide, Tulsa, and Washington, D.C. — to our new, exciting brand of golf.”
After months of acrimony, the PGA Tour and LIV Golf on June 6 announced they are merging parts of their operations under a new for-profit company. The news came after months of pointed rhetoric and heated debate about the human rights record of the breakaway LIV circuit’s Saudi backers. It also came amid ongoing litigation between LIV and the PGA Tour, which the sides agreed to mu- tually end through the deal.
Per the arrangement, LIV, the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour, a Europe-based tour, will continue operating distinctly for now. LIV’s current season runs through early November.