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Mark Schlabach
Former LIV Golf CEO and commissioner Greg Norman, who was replaced by sports and entertainment executive Scott O’Neil this season, remains on the league’s board of directors, O’Neil told reporters in Australia on Wednesday.
Norman, a two-time Open Championship winner, helped get the Saudi Arabian-financed circuit off the ground by recruiting several PGA Tour players to join the league the past few years.
“Greg is an icon. He is a friend,” O’Neil said during a news conference in Adelaide, Australia, where the second LIV Golf tournament of the season tees off Friday at The Grange Golf Club. “He is the reason I’m here today.”
O’Neil, a past CEO of the parent company of the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers and NHL’s New Jersey Devils, president of Madison Square Garden, and CEO of amusement and resort company Merlin Entertainments, said Norman attended a LIV Golf board meeting last week.
“I spent quite a bit of time with him in my 30-day lead-up to this role and every day since engaging, asking questions and learning, and I hope that he is part of LIV forever,” O’Neil said. “He sits on the board, which is another wonderful testament that we can tap into his experience, his leadership, his friendship, and any challenges, too, at the board meeting. I was hoping for a friendly on the other side of the table, but he mixes it up pretty good. It’s quite a gift to have him as part of LIV.”
O’Neil, who has had the lead role at LIV Golf for the past 40 days, said he hopes a potential deal between Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and the PGA Tour will open doors for his tour, which is in its fourth season. The proposed deal would include a $1.5 billion investment by the PIF into PGA Tour Enterprises, the U.S.-based tour’s for-profit entity.
“For us at LIV, we are hoping that that unlocks opportunity,” O’Neil said. “That may unlock opportunity with markets, with courses, with marketing partners, with television networks, with growing the game, with competition opportunities, with new formats.
“So I’m excited about the agreement. I think that right now we are going to the moon and back, and I hope that’ll help as an accelerant, but I’m very confident in where we are in this business and the interest we have currently.”
PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan and player director Adam Scott met with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House on Feb. 4. Player director Tiger Woods and his son, Charlie, played golf with the president at Trump International Golf Club in Palm Beach, Florida, on Sunday, according to a White House pool report.
The U.S. Department of Justice’s antitrust division is reviewing the potential PIF investment, and Monahan, Woods and Scott indicated in a statement last week that the tour has asked Trump to get involved in the process.
“We know golf fans are eagerly anticipating a resolution to negotiations with the Public Investment Fund and want to thank President Trump for his interest and long-time support of the game of golf,” the statement said. “We asked the President to get involved for the good of the game, the good of the country, and for all the countries involved. We are grateful that his leadership has brought us closer to a final deal, paving the way for reunification of men’s professional golf.”
O’Neil has already helped secure major achievements for LIV Golf, including a new TV deal with Fox Sports in the U.S. and an over-the-air broadcast agreement in the United Kingdom. The R&A and U.S. Golf Association also recently announced new pathways for LIV Golf players to qualify for The Open and U.S. Open, respectively.
“This is the first step of many I think we’re looking to take,” LIV Golf captain Brooks Koepka said. “The opportunity is there. I think the organizations around the world, the R&A, the USGA, they’re looking at LIV Golf as part of the golf ecosystem now. With that is a huge, huge step forward for us.”
