LIV Golf 's ambitious plans to play in Australia have been given a huge boost, after New South Wales sport minister Alister Henskens revealed they are 'ready and willing' to strike a deal with the Saudi-backed series. LIV CEO Greg Norman is planning for his breakaway circuit to make a stop in his home nation in the 2023 season.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald Norman and his team approached the iconic Royal Sydney Golf Club to host LIV's event on Australian soil. However, they were reportedly dealt a blow when the Sydney setup rejected the chance to bring the series to their court.
Despite being turned away from arguably New South Wales' famed club, the state's sport minister Henskens is still keen for the area to work in partnership with Norman and co.
Speaking to The Guardian , the minister revealed: "With some of the best courses in Australia, NSW is the perfect place to host major golf tournaments. We are ready and willing to have discussions about bringing more professional tour events to NSW.”
Henskens also commented on the increased popularity of golf in his state, adding: "NSW has more than 166,000 registered golfers, upwards of 370 courses and the game has an economic impact of about $1.3bn annually to the NSW economy."
Norman's want for Australian involvement in LIV Golf is no secret, but the former world No. 1 is reportedly yet to make contact with Henskens, or the state sport ministers of Queensland and Victoria. The CEO has looked to land an Aussie footprint onto the series by drawing in his nation's two leading players in Cameron Smith and Marc Leishman.
Smith especially proved to be one of LIV's biggest coups, having held world No. 2 status at the time of his arrival as well as being crowned Open champion just a few weeks prior. Smith reportedly picked up a cool £121 million signing-on fee, but he was also given an added extra by Norman to lure him into making the Saudi switch.
Speaking to The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age the former world No. 1 confirmed he offered Smith and Leishman a 25% share in a LIV Golf franchise that will consist of an all-Australian team from the 2023 campaign. He said: "You’ve got to think about it from Cam’s perspective, he completely understood one thing that other people are struggling to understand: the value LIV Golf brings, and that new value is the franchise.
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"Cam knows about it, but he’s probably a little too young to understand what Kerry Packer did in cricket. He did what he did for the players, creating teams and night cricket… look where it’s evolved to from there with the IPL. The value of those teams in India is incredible. That’s the new value we bring."
“[Smith] sees the market that Australia presents and the market which, quite honestly, has been starved of high-quality players and new value for the game of golf. The Presidents Cup comes in there once every seven to 10 years, sucks the economy dry and then disappears.”
