Greg Norman is stepping away from LIV Golf.
The Shark helped to found the renegade golf league four years ago as their first CEO with a huge investment from the Saudi Arabian government. And at the beginning of the league’s launch, he was the face of the product, recruiting some of the top golfers in the world like Bryson DeChambeau, Phil Mickelson, and Dustin Johnson to be a part of the project.
But Norman began to slowly recede from the LIV Golf spotlight and the frontlines of golf’s great divide. Last year he was replaced as CEO and with his contract ending last month, he took to Instagram to officially announce his departure from the organization.
View this post on Instagram
Norman’s statement reads in full:
After four unforgettable years, I have officially closed out my time with LIV Golf, and reflecting with nothing but gratitude, pride and achievement
Together, we built a movement that changed the game globally. We created opportunities for both players and fans and broaden the ecosystem of golf. We truly globalized the game and expanded golf’s reach to fans around the world. We brought entertainment, innovation and private equity into golf (including to the PGA Tour) positioning the sport as an asset class. It’s been an incredible chapter, and I’m so proud of what we accomplished. My commitment to do what was and still is, the right thing for golf, the players and fans never waivered.
Thank you to everyone who has been part of the journey with me during this time. I’ll always look back on this time with great fulfillment and appreciation.
As for what’s next…stay tuned! Exciting times ahead. Onward to the next adventure.”
Greg Norman has built a business career that goes far beyond what he did in his playing days where he won two majors and was once the top-ranked golfer in the world. He has invested in everything from golf course design and golf apparel to real estate to wine and beef products. But LIV Golf was where he finally achieved his decades-long goal of creating a global tour to disrupt professional golf.
Just how successful that disruption has been is largely up for debate. Norman is probably thrilled with the billions of dollars that golfers made through the money thrown at them by the Saudi Arabian government. The golfers that accepted the Saudi money instantly made generational wealth. But LIV Golf is still a mere footnote on the American sporting calendar and is no longer seen as a real threat to the PGA Tour. Even a new television deal with Fox Sports hasn’t helped the league gain any sort of real relevance domestically. In fact, the PGA Tour’s growth in ratings this year and the lack of progress in reunification talks signals that the tour may just be content with the status quo.
In many ways, Norman’s tenure with LIV mirrored many of his most famous tournaments as a player. Some highs, some lows, some big swings, but ultimately falling short of what it could have been.
About Matt Yoder