Greg Norman will shift into a new role with LIV Golf. The Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF)—LIV’s beneficiary—has been searching for a new chief executive officer for months, Josh Carpenter of Sports Business Journal initially reported.
The report notes that the PIF has hired London-based Odgers Berndtson to perform a search for a new executive. Possible candidates include highly established sports business executives, proving that LIV Golf hopes to remain a mainstay within professional golf. Norman’s new role remains unclear.
Of course, the PGA Tour is currently in talks with the PIF, negotiating how the sport’s future will look. PGA brass, spearheaded by Commissioner Jay Monahan, former board member Jimmy Dunne, and Policy Board Chairman Ed Herlihy, shockingly announced a framework agreement with the PIF on Jun. 6, 2023. That deal settled all lawsuits and set the course for both parties to strike a concrete, nuanced agreement to settle golf’s current schism.
In the days after the framework agreement became public, reports emerged that Monahan would take over as LIV’s de facto commissioner and have the final say about its future. But no such instance has transpired.
Instead, LIV has continued to grow, wrapping up its third full year of operations in 2024—a year that included the additions of Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton, and Bryson DeChambeau shining at the U.S. Open.
The league also hired Nike’s Illana Finley as its new chief communications officer at the end of September. Five LIV Golf teams have made corporate hires, too, appointing five industry directors as new general managers.
As for Norman, his role as LIV Golf CEO since its launch in 2022 has been polarizing.
“Greg has to go, first of all,” said Tiger Woods ahead of the 2022 Hero World Challenege.
“Then we can talk freely, to say the least.”
Rory McIlroy agrees.
“I have spent time with [PIF Governor] Yasir al-Rumayyan, and the people that have represented him in LIV, I think, have done him a disservice, so [Greg] Norman and those guys,” McIlroy said after his final round at the 2024 Players Championship.
“I see the two entities, and I think there’s a really big disconnect between PIF and LIV. I think you got PIF over here, and LIV is sort of over here doing its own thing. So the closer we [as the PGA Tour can] get to Yasir, PIF and hopefully finalize that investment, I think that will be a really good thing.”
McIlroy then tried to give a reason for the PIF’s ultimate plan.
“They’re a sovereign wealth fund,” McIlroy said.
“They want to park money for decades and not worry about it. They want to invest in smart and secure businesses, and the PGA Tour is definitely one of those, especially if they’re looking to invest in sports in some way.”
The PIF, which reportedly has over $700 billion in assets, serves as the sovereign wealth fund for the Saudi Arabian Kingdom. The Kingdom has had a lengthy history of committing atrocities, including the subjugation of women, the dismemberment of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, fostering a civil war in Yemen, and having totalitarian control over its population. Fifteen of the 19 hijackers on Sept. 11, 2001, were also Saudi citizens, and recent reports point to connections between al-Qaeda and the Saudi Kingdom. That explains why they want to ‘sportswash,’ hoping to improve their international reputation among the global elite by investing in sports. Plus, its economy looks to diversify itself from oil, as the Kingdom sees it as a depreciating asset in the future. Hence, the PIF now owns and facilitates Newcastle United of the English Premier League, made a substantial investment into Formula One racing, and poured billions into creating LIV Golf, which included paying PGA Tour players to bolt. Nobody received more than Rahm, though, as he reportedly received north of $450 million from the PIF in Dec. 2023.
Nevertheless, Norman leaving his post as CEO may speed up negotiations between the PIF and the tour. The two-time major winner has long envisioned a global tour of top players traversing the world. He initially laid out his plans for a worldwide league in the mid-1990s, which Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer scoffed at, per Alan Shipnuck’s marvelous book, LIV and Let Die. McIlroy has called for something similar, but his disdain for Norman remains. Perhaps this shift in leadership will help the state of golf. Or perhaps not. But one thing seems certain: LIV Golf is here to stay.
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.
