Greg Norman got what he wanted – but it might mean the end of him

As the shock news broke on Wednesday morning (AEST) that the PGA Tour and the Saudi-backed LIV Golf will merge to form a new entity – which no one saw coming, at least at this speed – the chorus of cheers from Greg Norman’s cohort was matched emotions ranging from apathy to disgust from tour loyalists.

Players such as Australia’s Cameron Smith, who defected for a reported sign-on fee of $140 million (“generational wealth”, as Norman calls it), haven’t even played a year on the rebel circuit and now potentially have access to the PGA Tour again.

Greg Norman, pictured in Adelaide in April, was the head-kicker LIV Golf needed early on.Credit: Marija Ercegovac

Others such as Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and Hideki Matsuyama, the Japanese cult hero who was rumoured to have been offered an eye-watering $350 million to jump to LIV, stayed. Now their secretive boss Jay Monahan has danced with the alleged devil.

Most suspected this would have to happen one day, but this soon?

It’s not as if Norman hadn’t flagged it.

Inside the plush boardroom at The Grange Golf Club in Adelaide only seven weeks ago, I sat with Norman and asked if he could ever truly have peace talks with the PGA Tour. His rhetoric had softened in the weeks before LIV held its first Australian event, and I was curious to ask, in his mind, what would be the perfect model for the future of world golf.

“It wouldn’t be a world tour, it would just be co-existing,” Norman said.

“Monahan made the most truthful statement he’s ever made with product versus product. You have your product, happy days. Go do what you want to do. We have our product. We have seen fans like both products. What’s wrong with that?

“The fans are still the fans, and they will support. We’re going to have our loyal fans because we’re a franchise model. We could easily co-exist. From the outset that [players moving between tours] is always what we wanted. They’re independent contractors, and they should have the freedom to go play where they want to.”

But does this merger mean the end for Norman?

Yasir Al-Rumayyan, pictured with former US President Donald Trump last year, appears to be the new face of LIV.Credit: AP

Notably, his name was nowhere to be seen in the press release announcing the new shock deal. Instead, PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan was left to do the talking in the announcement, and later alongside Monahan in a too-awkward-to-be-true television appearance in the United States.

Norman was the head-kicker Saudi Arabia needed. They gave him the finance to make his world golf tour a reality. His profile gave them public cut-through, and he didn’t care how many toes he stepped on.

But speculation has been rife for months his overlords have slowly but surely been winding back his public appearances for a mooted move sideways. He’s been conspicuous since he spearheaded the Adelaide event, a success few would have imagined. His work appears almost done (even though he tweeted his pleasure at the new deal).

Few have any clue how the merger and new schedule will work, apart from Al-Rumayyan taking over as chairman and Monahan saving his skin as the for-profit organisation’s new chief executive officer. It’s logical the traditional tours and LIV’s teams model will continue as is, but the movement of players between each should be far more transient.

A huge crowd follows Cameron Smith at the inaugural Australian LIV event in Adelaide.Credit: Getty

The secrecy of the deal, which many golfers, agents and local administrators confessed they had no idea was happening when contacted on Wednesday, stunned all and sundry. It begs so many questions, and it appears even Al-Rumayyan and Monahan don’t have the answers yet.

LIV’s biggest stars, such as Smith, are on long-term contracts which run until as late as 2027. In briefings during the Adelaide tournament, LIV officials were adamant they were in it for the long haul. They want their franchise principals such as Smith, Phil Mickelson, Brooks Koepka and Dustin Johnson to eventually build their own golf courses and academies.

But the commercial reality was stark.

While it’s getting traction in other parts of the world, LIV’s American TV ratings on the CW Network have been poor. CW left the Tulsa tournament last month with three holes to play to run local programming including The Goldbergs and infomercials, infuriating viewers who missed Dustin Johnson winning a play-off.

The plan to have commercial backers buying teams like in Formula 1 has also not taken off, albeit it might be far more attractive now.

But the biggest losers might be the ones who stayed loyal to the PGA Tour.

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