Greg Norman speaks Liv Golf, the PGA Tour and the Masters

The man in Aston Martin skipped the servant and drove alone through the parking lot of South Florida, his window lowered. Even in the distance, his hair and side profile Greg Norman announced.

Only a few golfers were talented, omnipresent or split in the almost 50 years since he became professional.

He spent 331 weeks when the high -ranking golfer and won the British Open twice. However, there were disappointments with other majors: eight runners-up, including three at the Masters tournament, which ends on Sunday in the Augusta National Golf Club.

He had boasting and marketing. In the nineties, however, there was an unfortunate attempt to create a world golf tour that raged the PGA tour, and later, as Mr. Norman’s Most Contested Act: As commissioner of LIV Golf, who acted from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, from 2021, acted.

The appearance of the route split the men’s game and broadened the Australian golfer widespread as Glib, greedy Apophog for Saudi Arabia and its human rights violations. Now the PGA tour, which LIV once convicted, is trying to conclude a contract with the asset fund and its guide Yasir al-Rumayyan.

In February, President Trump, about a month after Mr. Norman, organized his job as managing director of LIV as managing director of LIV, organized a meeting between Mr. Al-Rumayyan and Jay Monahan, the PGA tour commissioner. Since then, the conversations seem to have stalled because the PGA tour rejected a proposal for the asset fund that would have allowed LIV to continue. In a report published by Democrats in an investigative committee of the Senate, the Saudi investment in the PGA tour “makes sense for business, unless an attempt to buy a long-term influence”.

During a conversation at the end of March, Mr. Norman, who stays on the board of the league, flashed the characteristic defiance that made his critics so often angry.

This interview was processed for length and clarity.

In 2023 I asked the chairman of Augusta National whether they were invited to this year’s masters, and he said no. But he left the door open for the future. Were you invited?

NO.

Are you interested in the good grace of the golf amount again?

No, I always take care of golf. It is always important to me what golf represents for everyone. I take care of the growth of the game on which trajectory it is. The misjudgment of me is probably what I appreciated it, and I always took my country to first place, Golf and third place.

You said that the episode of the World Golf Tour hurt your piece, but how has it shaped for you for the next 30 years?

What disappointed me in 1993 and 2021 was prejudiced. I’ve always been the person who wants to get to know the facts and I don’t prefer people. What hurt the most in these shops was to be prejudiced and, I think, framed in the wrong direction.

I never campaigned against the institution. I always tried to be additive, especially for the players. In my over 40 years in the game, there was no form or form that I wanted to hurt the PGA tour or the game. I always wanted the world to see that there were other potential opportunities for playing.

The masters of the past year were less chatty about the future of LIV and the tour. But President Trump is now involved in the advance after a deal. What does it take to do you?

I have never been involved in the deal. People asked me: “Did you talk to Trump about it?” No, because I’m not involved.

What is the biggest obstacle for a deal?

There is a word that was consistently used incorrectly: fusion. I don’t even know what the right word is. As far as I know from my boss at the time, it would never be a fusion. Liv would always be an independent.

Lately there have been some discussions that Al-Rumayyan may no longer want to exist as an independent brand. Is that true?

I can only do what he says in our meetings: that Liv is independent, and Liv will be dead long after his dead.

When the tour and Liv were in the bloodiest parts of this saga, the tour in morality and the American flag were wrapped. Then it seemed to make a deal. Have you been surprised

I don’t like it when people misjudge the situation or do not know the facts. I only wish Jay accepted my call or that Jay Yasir had met to understand the facts – no different from what the players did.

What similarities do you see between the reaction of the PGA Tour on your idea of ​​the world golf tour and your initial reaction to LIV? Was it the same game book?

Identical.

Liv needed the money of the Saudi public investment fund.

Hundred percent.

But does Saudi money have Doom Liv with many people from the start?

The massive headwind directly from the goal used this as the harmful side of the money. If you look at all other investments that the PIF made directly and indirectly to the United States – and what the US government did in Saudi Arabia – go:

But I understand it. Then you fight for your lawn. You will fight for it as hard as possible.

How much interest was Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in this project?

I never spoke to him.

In Fox News in 2023, the Crown Prince effectively admitted that LIV was sports underwear and that he agreed. Do you agree?

I don’t like the term because I don’t think it is right because everyone interprets it differently.

In 2022, after the murder of journalists Jamal Khashoggi, they were asked by Saudi agents and replied: “We all made mistakes and they only want to learn from these mistakes and how they can correct them in the future.” Many people looked at them as a cover for the Saudis.

I think if I had to take something back from my entire three and a half years, I would probably have answered this question differently or did not answer it at all. Although I tried to say it – because we all make mistakes, no matter who they are or what they do – it is the situation in which they say it and how people interpret it.

Did you consider how working with the Saudis could cost you cost -intensive things that are concerned?

I certainly took this into account. But I was naive.

And as soon as they are there, they are there. I’m not a quittle, so I will only look through what I think is right.

Was there a part of them who registered with the Saudis for money or retaliation?

None.

I can say that with my hand.

When I realized that the fight with the world tour was finished and dusted, I lost, right? I didn’t lose what was right. I have lost people who work better behind the scenes than I do. Did it stab for a certain time? Yes. Then I just said to myself: “Hey, go back to do what you can do best, and that’s a golf club.” And I got back into the saddle.

So I never went with “I want to get it right away”. I just always believed that there was a chance for the game and I think we changed the game.

In selected cases, the PGA tour has taken over some of the signatures of LIV like no events. Do you see that as justification?

I think it’s a realization of some things that you may have overlooked.

They have often preceded and misunderstood themselves. Does it bother you?

(Break with four seconds.))

The answer to that – of course because of the hesitation – is.

The truth frees you and until you know the truth, you are the one who wears the load, not me. Does it do me to a certain extent? Yes. But I’m over now.

I never checked myself with the role of LIV CEO role. I was proud of what I did there.

Have you been pushed out?

Not at all.

Have you ever used the asset fund or Saudi Arabia?

I don’t think the word “used” is the right word. I think you have selected the right person.

You last played a major in 2009, in the same year in which you most recently appeared in the Masters. Do you miss the master’s or major tournament golf?

Not really. I am 70 years old.

Do I enjoy watching the majors? I don’t enjoy watching golf.

Who is your master?

Depends on the weather.