LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman is in his homeland of Australia for one of the circuit’s most high-profile tournaments to date at The Grange Golf Club in Adelaide.
The event has captured the imagination of the public and is a sell-out as the likes of World No.6 Cameron Smith and four-time Major winner Brooks Koepka tee it up in an area of the world that doesn’t regularly experience top-level golf. However, while LIV Golf currently boasts six of the world top 50, Norman insists it's only a matter of time until more top talent joins the organisation.
The 68-year-old told the NCA NewsWire: “It’s an ongoing process. We’ve got a long list of players who want to come in. We just don’t have the ability today because players are under contract. But we’ll get to a position where there will be a relegation series and places will start opening up.”
At the end of the 2023 LIV Golf League season, the bottom four players in the individual standings who are not exempt due to a multi-year contract will be relegated, leaving the door open for four new players to join the circuit.
One will be the winner of the Asian Tour’s International Series money list, with three spots available for others, reportedly via a Promotions Event, where some of the world’s best players will be eligible.
That promotion and relegation system, along with the spending power of LIV Golf, certainly appears to give it plenty of scope for attracting high-quality players, and Norman explained that’s the case. He said: “It’s incredible the amount of players who want to come on board. It would surprise you how good those names are.”
Norman also stressed that the creation of LIV Golf was never intended as a threat to the PGA Tour, but that the latter’s hardline stance against players joining the circuit has worked against it. “It was never that way. It never had to be one or the other,” he said. “The PGA Tour made it that way. The PGA Tour opened up Pandora‘s box by threatening players with lifetime bans.
"Somebody came in and offered competition to [the PGA Tour] they didn’t like it. But it’s not going to stay this way forever, because we’re not going anywhere.”
Norman then insisted that, eventually, the two organisations will have to find a way to resolve their differences. He said: “Somewhere down the line in some way, shape or form, the two parties have gotta come to the table. It’s product versus product and we’re proud of our product, and our product’s not gonna go anywhere.”
LIV Golf has also attracted plenty of criticism since it launched last year, with Norman taking his share too, not least from the PGA Tour. However, even though he admitted the extent of it had taken him by surprise, he insisted he was prepared to ride it out. He said: “I knew it going in. I didn’t expect it that degree to be honest with you. And I look forward to the day when you know, hopefully everybody’s got to eat crow.
“I just know our model is here to stay. It’s not a vindictive attitude or approach or anything like that. It’s my desire to do what is right for the game of golf and what is right for the players, and what is right for the fans that are out here.”
