Plans to oust Greg Norman as LIV Golf CEO unveiled in US Senate Committee

Plans for the Greg Norman to become “fish food” have been revealed in an explosive Senate Committee hearing into the LIV-PGA merger.

The Shark is potentially fish food.

According to documents released during Tuesday’s Senate hearing, there was a proposed side agreement that would force LIV Golf CEO and commissioner Greg Norman out of his role as part of the PGA Tour’s merger with their rival.

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That was one of the many proposals to unify golf’s rival factions that representatives of the PGA Tour and the Saudi government discussed during their hasty negotiations in recent months, The New York Post reports

The talks culminated in a framework agreement announced last month between the tour and Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund.

The deal to bring Saudi investment into the PGA Tour shocked the golf world and invited scrutiny from Congress as well as the Justice Department, which is looking into potential antitrust violations.

The Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, chaired by Senator Richard Blumenthal, released the documents detailing the negotiations ahead of a hearing on Tuesday where one of the architects of the deal and a PGA Tour executive were set to testify.

Norman’s involvement in the continued venture has looked under threat. (Photo by Octavio Passos/Getty Images)

The subcommittee is seeking to determine how the investment in golf by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund aligns with the kingdom’s geopolitical interests.

In his opening remarks, Blumenthal said he wanted to uncover the reasons behind the involvement of a “brutal, repressive regime” in a beloved American sports institution whose leaders, before their deal with the Saudis, had made moral arguments against LIV players taking Saudi money.

“We’re here about questions that go to the core of what the future of this sport and other sports will be in the United States, what happened that led the PGA Tour to change its position,” Blumenthal said.

“Was it only the hope of ending litigation or was it also the unspecified amount of Saudi investment that would come of it? Just how much money did PIF offer the PGA Tour and what other sources of money were sought as an alternative?”

The proposal to replace Norman as LIV’s CEO was included in a side agreement that was negotiated ahead of the announcement, but the committee could not determine whether the side agreement was executed.

Aussie golfer Cameron Smith (left) joined LIV Golf in part because of Norman’s involvement. (Photo by Brian Spurlock/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Emails obtained by the committee showed that PGA Tour board members Jimmy Dunne and Ed Herlihy discussed with PGA Tour CEO Jay Monahan the prospect of Dunne and Herlihy replacing Norman.

Speculation that Norman’s days are numbered has swirled for weeks since the bombshell dropped.

“Jimmy, I raised the idea with Jay of you overseeing LIV going forward. He really liked it,” Herlihy wrote on May 15.

“You and me,” Dunne replied.

Norman and Monahan have feuded publicly since LIV Golf started poaching some of the top golfers — including Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka and Cam Smith — from the PGA Tour.

Norman remains in the CEO role, although he has been largely sidelined as the public face of LIV since the deal was announced.

He was invited to testify at Tuesday’s hearing along with the governor of the PIF Yasir Al-Rumayyan; both declined.

Monahan also was not testifying because he is recovering from an unspecified medical situation that kept him out of work for a month; he has said he plans to return next week.

Among the other proposals included in the memo are giving Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods their own LIV Golf teams, mixed-gender, LIV-style team event with qualifying in Saudi Arabia and concluding in Dubai; awarding world ranking points to LIV events, including retroactively; and PIF sponsorship of two elevated PGA Tour events, including one in Saudi Arabia.

— This story originally appeared on nypost.com and has been republished with permission