Greg Norman addresses LIV future with players "calling" to join Saudi league

29 July 2023 , 16:41

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Greg Norman addresses LIV future with players "calling" to join Saudi league

Greg Norman has claimed it is business as usual for LIV Golf moving forward, after revealing a number of players have been in contact to join the breakaway circuit.

LIV had been at war with the PGA Tour for 12 months, following the Saudi-backed series' inception last summer. This dispute appears to be over though, after the Tour signed a shock agreement with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia (PIF) last month.

The deal will see the PGA Tour work alongside LIV, as well as the DP World Tour, with the three circuits operating under one entity named 'NewCo'.

The future of both LIV and its bullish CEO Norman appeared in doubt in recent weeks. It comes after the Australian was left out negotiations with the Tour, who had also requested for the Australian be removed from his role as part of the new venture.

That request has since been rejected, and it appears Norman and the Saudi-backed league will remain part of the process going forward. Amid the uncertainty, Norman has remained relatively quiet on the matter, but has now revealed a positive update.

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Speaking at a business conference in New York City, Norman reassured those in attendance that LIV Golf was not going anywhere. Per the Washington Post, the former world No. 1 was quizzed on what comes next for the breakaway league, and he responded: "Just continue on the pathway where we are right now."

Greg Norman is the man in charge of LIV Golf (Getty)

Claiming that there had been interest from Tour players to join LIV Golf, he went on: "I’m getting calls today about other players wanting to come. Been getting a lot of interest from that myself, personally.” Following the framework agreement, Norman claimed that he believes the PGA Tour have now realised there is space for both circuits to operate at the top of golf's food chain.

"The hurdles have been removed in a lot of ways," he said. "Now people see that, oh, like we’ve always said from Day 1, we want to stand shoulder to shoulder. We want to be supportive of the golfing ecosystem. We want to grow the golfing ecosystem. Our platform is different than the PGA Tour’s platform... Is there room for both of us? One hundred percent, and they’re realising that now.”

Joshua Lees