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CEO Greg Norman Answers Tough Questions About His Future at LIV

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We’ve seen plenty of golfers, including Cameron Smith, Collin Morikawa, and—most recently—Xander Schauffele, get caught up in the LIV Golf rumor mill. Some reports (Smith) have been true, while others haven’t come to fruition.

Now, there are reports that LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman himself may be on the outs with the league. Reports that were quickly shot down by the Saudi group that finances the new series.

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The Telegraph (UK) reported that Saudi leadership is in talks to replace Norman with Mark King, who has experience in the golf world as former CEO of TaylorMade and was also president at Adidas.

The switch to King would reportedly be to put someone with more experience in being an executive in charge—he took TaylorMade from $263 million to $1.5 billion in earnings during his time with the brand.

“The Saudis have already committed more than $2 billion to this and clearly want the business plan to be defined and for it all to be seen as rather less chaotic,” the report stated.

LIV management was quick to refute the report, however.

In a statement to Sports Illustrated’s Bob Harig, LIV Managing Director Majed Al-Sorour said, “Greg Norman is our CEO and Commissioner. Any suggestion that changes are being made to Greg’s title or role is patently false.”

LIV Golf completed its eight-event schedule in 2022 and locked down big names like Smith, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, and Bryson DeChambeau. There are still major hurdles for the league to clear to increase revenue, however.

These include garnering corporate sponsorships, securing a media rights deal in the United States, and having golfers earn Official World Golf Ranking points in events so that they may qualify for the majors.


 

Chris has worked in sports journalism for nearly 20 years and also loves the game of golf, even though it often doesn't love him back. Year-round golf is a perk of living in Florida, where Chris moved from his native New York shortly after graduating from college. Chris has played some famous courses in the state, including Bay Hill in Orlando and Innisbrook in the Tampa Bay area, and next on his to-do list is the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass to take a crack at the famous island hole.

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