Approximately 25 years ago, Greg Norman was ranked #1 longer than anyone on Tour until Tiger Woods took over. At this time and at the peak of his career Norman proposed the concept of a World Tour for elite players and a rival to the PGA Tour. Norman had a vision but possibly this was an idea slightly ahead of its time as Norman was unable to get all the right components together. Norman said “With my original concept, some players loved it and others didn’t like it. I had corporate, I had television, but you need 100 per cent of the pie to be together before we can bake it”. In addition, the funding was going to be coming from Norman as well there was an aggressive push-back from the PGA Tour.
Fast forward to 2021 Greg Norman and his company LIV Golf Investments receives the majority of their funding from the Public Investment Fund, the investing arm of Saudi Arabia chaired by Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman.
The first initiative of LIV Golf Investments was forming a partnership with the Asian Tour, investing more than $200 million to support and promote a new 10-tournament series that will be added to the Asian Tour schedule from 2022 onward, with new events across Asia, the Middle East and Europe. Norman will also serve as commissioner.
This investment, believed to be one of the biggest in the history of professional golf, was seen as a direct challenge to the sport’s status quo, with the plans having been opposed by the PGA Tour and European Tour.
The news release was lacking details such as when and where the tournaments would be played, or how they would be televised around the world. Also unclear was how much of the $200 million infusion would be split among prize money and guaranteed fees. In addition, there are rumblings that this might be the first step toward a Saudi-backed super league.
Norman said in a release, “This is only the beginning,” adding the company has secured a major capital commitment to be used to create “additive new opportunities” around the world.
PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan has made it clear to his players that anyone who joins will no longer be part of the PGA Tour.
Cho Minn Thant, the commissioner and CEO of the Asian Tour, called it the “single biggest development” in the tour’s history.
The Saudi International already is part of the Asian Tour after Golf Saudi, which operates the tournament, signed a 10-year partnership with the tour last month.
Recently Greg Norman announced the addition of two key executives to his staff at LIV Golf Investments, Ron Cross, a former executive at the PGA Tour and Augusta National, will be the organization’s chief events officer. And Sean Bratches, a former executive at ESPN and most recently with Formula 1, will be LIV Golf’s chief commercial officer.
In a statement Norman said “We believe the game of golf is poised to grow on a global scale and we are ready to make the necessary strategic investments to support its growth,”
The times (they) are a-changing. Stayed tuned for the 2022 season and we may see why he is called “The Shark”.
