LIV Golf’s outgoing CEO Greg Norman has asked Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy to both recognise that they have benefited from the breakaway league’s creation.
Woods and McIlroy, two of golf’s biggest names, have been staunch opponents of LIV Golf and offered the PGA Tour its biggest show of strength when they remained with the established circuit.
But Norman, who is being replaced by Scott O’Neil as CEO later this year, wants to sit down with both players and get their views on how the pair have benefitted as a result of LIV’s inception.
“I would love them to recognise the fact that — like Tiger with his PIP money [Player Impact Program] — that only came because of LIV, right?” Norman told Australian Golf Digest. “So Tiger benefitted from that. Rory’s definitely benefitted from that.
“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 and especially McIlroy had publicly gone back and forth on several occasions regarding the Northern Ireland star’s complaints about LIV Golf, before expressing his approval of Norman moving on.
He felt that LIV Golf’s decision to proceed with O’Neil rather than Norman was a “good move” for an “established” league, after the executive previously claimed that McIlroy had been “brainwashed” by the PGA Tour.
Negotiations over a merger between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf remain ongoing, though Norman won’t be involved any further, while Woods and McIlroy have recently got their own TGL league underway.
The league features a combination of traditional golf with elements of simulated indoor golf, which Woods has played in and McIlroy will debut on Monday, alongside a host of big names, but Norman is yet to tune in.
“No, I haven’t watched a bit of it because there’s a couple of players who’ve been very vocal against me,” Norman added. “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.
“Simulator golf is simulator golf. We had Putt-Putt and all those miniature golf courses we built around the world. I think innovation is a wonderful thing, I’m not going to belittle that. I wish them all the very best and success because it’s the market, right? They’re going to be pulling people into the game of golf.”
