Greg Norman reportedly losing his job in bombshell golf merger

The bombshells keep coming on one of golf’s most dramatic days with Australian icon Greg Norman reportedly left blindsided.

The Shark. NCA/NewsWire Emma Brasier.

Greg Norman — the man who whose face has symbolised LIV Golf’s rebellion — was reportedly left out of the loop when golf’s bombshell news dropped on Wednesday morning.

The Aussie icon has been the chief executive since LIV Golf’s launch, but was nowhere to be seen or heard as its finest hour arrived on.

The golf world was completely blown away overnight when it was announced from out of nowhere that the PGA Tour and DP World Tour have merged their commercial operations with the Saudi-backed LIV Golf.

Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the governor of the Saudi Public Investment Fund who will be the chairman of the new combined megatour, told CNBC that he phoned Norman just minutes before his television appearance where he dropped the bomb.

“He is aware. I made a call just before this,” Al-Rumayyan said, according to The New York Post.

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“Of course, he’s a partner with us. All the stakeholders with us had a call right before this interview.”

It emerged on Wednesday PGA Tour players found out about the news from Twitter — causing outrage among the playing ranks.

The Shark in Adelaide. Photo by Brenton Edwards / AFP.

The Golf Channel also reported that Norman was not involved in the merger negotiations between LIV and the PGA Tour and had noticeably become more of a background figure in the second season of the rebel organisation.

Sports Illustrated then dropped a bombshell report that Norman is not expected to be involved in the operations going forward.

The si.com website also reports Norman has been shifted to the side in recent times and his role had changed towards him becoming more of a token “figurehead”.

Norman’s name was not mentioned in the announcement. Not once.

Despite his apparent shunning, Norman on Wednesday called it a “great day in global golf”.

A great day in global golf for players and fans alike. The journey continues!!

— Greg Norman (@SharkGregNorman) June 6, 2023

Norman has been one of the central figures of the PGA-LIV war, taking shots at PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan amid legal action between the Tour and the Saudi-backed league.

He has also started spotfires and burned bridges with public comments towards the biggest name players that spoke out against the LIV organisation, including Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy.

Norman wrote a letter to Monahan last year after the Tour commissioner said defectors to LIV Golf would be banned from playing on the PGA Tour, which ended with, “this is just the beginning. It certainly is not the end.”

McIlroy and Tiger Woods both in November called for Norman to be ousted as LIV Golf CEO as the first step towards a potential peace agreement.

“Greg’s got to leave and then we can eventually, hopefully, have a stay between the two lawsuits and figure something out,” Woods said.

“But why would you change anything if you’ve got a lawsuit against you? They sued us first.”

Woods said their was “a lot of animosity” from the LIV leadership — a thinly veiled swipe at Norman.

Greg Norman has had a wild ride. Picture: NCA/NewsWire Emma Brasier

Norman last year said on several occasions his goal was for the established tours and his league to co-exist.

Norman, 67, has a history of heartburn with both the PGA Tour and Woods. Some 30 years ago, he tried to create a rival tour and that was squashed by then-commissioner Tim Finchem, who launched a series of World Golf Championship events.

LIV Golf was launched in October 2021 and lured top PGA Tour talent with record $25 million purses and money guarantees. The competition is currently in its second season.

The PGA Tour responded to the emergence of a rival tour by banning LIV players while the DP World Tour has handed out heavy fines to its players.

Those players that did leave for the riches of LIV enjoyed insane signing bonus riches, including a reported $200 million for Phil Mickelson and $125 for Dustin Johnson.

Those that stayed, including Woods and McIlroy must surely be filthy they turned down the LIV approaches — especially considering that Norman said last year Woods turned down an offer in the range of $1-1.2 billion.

While Norman’s days appear numbered, there have been no whispers about the Monahan’s future — despite the vocal outcry of players.

After exiting the meeting with players at the Canadian Open, Monahan conceded it was “heated” with many only finding out via social media or news outlets.

“I would describe the meeting as intense. Certainly heated,” he said.

“This is a very complex — obviously it‘s been a very dynamic and complex couple of years, and for players, I’m not surprised that — this is an awful lot to ask them to digest, and this is a significant change for us in the direction that we were going down.”

The full make-up of golf’s new world also remains unclear, with the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and LIV to run their own schedules, with the administration to be decided.

— with NCA NewsWire