If the PGA Tour’s agreement to form a new commercial partnership with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund is executed, Greg Norman will be out of a job as Commissioner of LIV Golf, according to PGA Tour interim co-commissioner Ron Price.
Asked by Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal — “Just to be clear, [Norman] is out of a job?
Price replied: “If we reach a definitive agreement, we would not have a requirement for that type of position.”
Price and Tour board director Jimmy Dunne testified before Senate for three hours on Tuesday.
It’s no big surprise that Norman won’t be involved in running LIV going forward other than the fact that the PGA Tour went so far as to produce a side agreement in writing as part of the Framework Agreement, which was announced to the world on June 6.
The document was revealed on Tuesday as part of a memorandum to members of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. Appendix 13 shows an email sent on May 24 from PGA Tour chairman of the board Ed Herlihy to Michael S. Klein, a representative for PIF, highlighting a one-sentence side letter that he proposed would be executed between all the parties at the same time as the Framework Agreement:
“In connection with the execution of the Framework Agreement, the Parties hereby agree that the services provided by Greg Norman and Performance 54 to LIV will cease upon the management transition to the PGA Tour contemplated by the Framework Agreement and in any event by no later than one month thereafter.”
In a separate email message sent from Price shortly thereafter, he wrote, “After reading the side letter language again, I think the ‘no later than one month thereafter’ applies to when we assume management responsibilities for LIV versus one month after execution of the Framework Agreement.” There is no evidence in the filing that the document was signed by both parties.
Norman, a former world No. 1 player, two-time major champion and World Golf Hall of Fame member, has long been at odds with the PGA Tour since he tried to launch a breakaway tour in the 1990s. That effort was rebuffed and Norman has long held a grudge. LIV Golf gave him a second bite at the apple and the financial resources to lure several top players to jump to a breakaway circuit, which is currently in its second season of operation. PGA Tour players from Tiger Woods to Rory McIlroy have been on the record stating that, “Greg must go.”
It appears the PGA Tour is attempting to make sure that will happen. Norman wasn’t involved in the secret negotiations between the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and PIF until he received a phone call from Yasir Al-Rumayyan, who will become the chairmen of the new entity overseeing the PGA Tour, LIV Golf and DP World Tour, minutes before the deal was announced on CNBC.
“Under the framework agreement,” Price said, “if we are able to move to a definitive agreement and it is approved, the LIV Golf assets, for which Greg Norman is currently Commissioner, would move into a new subsidiary controlled by the PGA Tour and those events will be managed by the PGA Tour. We have a complete infrastructure in place to manage events. It would make no sense to bring in that type of executive to manage what is right now a series of 14 events.”
Price also confirmed that Norman’s removal as the Commissioner of LIV was the only side agreement, or informal understanding, that “he knew of to his knowledge.”
