Greg Norman’s time as CEO of LIV Golf looks set to come to an end – much to the relief of Jon Rahm.
Norman, 69, has been one of the key figures in the establishment of the controversial Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund backed golf competition. Reports understand the rebel backed tour is now scouring the sport for a new individual to lead the enterprise.
Rahm, who put pen to paper on a seismic £460million ($600million) deal in December, has been a firm and public critic of Norman. He has accused the Australian of allowing an alleged personal vendetta against the PGA Tour to endanger the shocking merger deal with LIV.
However, the news about LIV’s new CEO search suggests Norman’s future in the top position is finite. Considering Rahm’s previous comments, this would be music to the Spaniard’s ears.
In November 2022, Rahm said: “I think Greg has had a vendetta against the PGA Tour for a long time. And when you have an ulterior motive, it can cloud your judgment a little bit.
“Greg is a player, not a businessman, even if he has been successful in that area. To me, he has an ulterior motive beyond just creating a golf tour. He’s had this vengeance for 30 years.
“His intentions might not be as pure as they could, which is a problem. So he might not be the best person for the job, even if he has done great things for the tour.
“I do believe that, for conversations to take place, Greg might need to be gone. Right now, it doesn’t seem like he and Jay [Monahan, PGA Tour Commissioner] will want to be in the same room together.
“Even if they disagreed, it would have been good to talk. So to get a resolution we might need one or both of them gone. I hope not. Jay has done a great job for the PGA Tour.”
In a development from June, half a year prior to Rahm’s remarks, the PGA Tour announced a preliminary deal with the PIF, which saw Monahan and Saudi leader Yasir Al-Rumayyan lead the discussions.
Following this, other reports claimed Norman was left out of the agreement, raising questions about his role as LIV CEO. However, last October, Norman refuted any claims of his departure when he said: “I knew it wasn’t true.
“There’s so much white noise running around out there, I paid very, very, I actually paid zero attention to it. I know sitting in this seat today, I know every step I’ve made has been for the right reasons, right reasons for the game of golf.”