PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan and LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman at a current LIV occasion.
David Cannon/Getty Pictures
Firebrand LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman, who was central within the creation of the upstart Saudi-financed golf league and professional golf’s civil conflict over the previous two years, will quickly get replaced because the chief govt of the tour he helped discovered, in response to a number of stories.
Sports Enterprise Journal first reported that LIV Golf was anticipated to rent former Harris Blitzer Sports activities & Leisure CEO Scott O’Neil for the place. A number of retailers have since confirmed the information.
Whereas Norman is predicted to stay with LIV Golf in a senior place, the information nonetheless represents a vastly consequential growth in professional golf’s feud.
When LIV Golf was first introduced again in 2021, Norman was named as its first CEO. The league shortly confronted enormous backlash from the PGA Tour, its gamers, some followers and media retailers.
In face of the opposition, Norman adopted an aggressive place vocally backing the league and feuding with the Tour and Tour gamers against LIV in public, at occasions calling the PGA Tour an “unlawful monopoly.”
Norman’s battle of phrases with PGA Tour stalwart Rory McIlroy was some of the notable over the previous two years. Each golf legends traded barbs within the press, generally changing into private.
In November 2022, McIlroy was requested what would want to occur to finish professional golf’s feud and brings the 2 sides collectively, the four-time main champion referred to as for Norman’s removing as LIV’s CEO.
“I feel Greg [Norman] must go. I feel he simply must exit stage left,” McIlroy mentioned. “He’s made his mark however I feel now’s the suitable time to kind of say, look, you’ve obtained this factor off the bottom however nobody goes to speak until there’s an grownup within the room that may truly attempt to mend fences.”
In June 2023, the Framework Settlement between the PGA Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Funding Fund was introduced, starting one thing of a ceasefire. However the negotiations for a ultimate settlement have dragged on.
O’Neil has been CEO of London-based theme park firm Merlin Entertainments since 2022. O’Neil could possibly be named LIV CEO as early as subsequent week, and sources informed Sports activities Enterprise Journal that the deal is “not signed however on the 1 yard line.”
With no ultimate deal in place, LIV Golf is scheduled to start its 2025 season in Saudi Arabia in February.
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