It was Tuesday ahead of the 2022 Hero World Challenge. The then-47-year-old was addressing a press conference when he was asked about the coexistence of the PGA Tour and LIV Golf. A curious and interesting question, we know! But what was more interesting was Tiger Woods’s answer to that query: “Greg [Norman] has to go, first of all.” Little did he know that, two years down the lane, this statement would resurface amid reports of the LIV Golf CEO being replaced, throwing more clarity on the merger talks.
The commissioner of the Saudi-backed league is being replaced? Yes, you read that right. The reports from Josh Carpenter, a journalist from the Sports Business Journal, mention how there has reportedly been a search for a new CEO for the PIF-funded circuit. What about Norman, then? Well, according to the reporter, “Greg Norman is expected to remain with the league in a senior role.”
According to the rumors, the Public Investment Fund has joined hands with a London-based search firm, Odgers Berndtson, to look for potential candidates. Any guesses as to the names of the people they have apparently looked at? Remember Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark? He was one of those who were reportedly contacted about the role. However, the reported talks did not seem to progress as the company took to target other people at the same executive level, as per sources.
Tiger Woods, November 29, 2022: https://t.co/tTpMuEYLcu pic.twitter.com/v7eJA0ZPuL
— Dan Rapaport (@Daniel_Rapaport) October 15, 2024
Now, add the recent rumored development with the statement that was dished out by Tiger Woods back in 2022. Couple it with the recent meet-up that Jay Monahan, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, and Guy Kinnings had at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship. The result? An increase of production in the rumor mills surrounding how the negotiations would be heating up with the belief that Woods still needs Norman to exit for the merger to happen.
In 2022, his exit was just one of the things that the 15-time major champ wanted to happen. While he reiterated the point Rory McIlroy once made before the U-turn about the LIV Golf CEO being too chaotic, Woods also talked about the lawsuit that the golfers from the circuit had against the PGA Tour.
Tiger Woods’s belief that LIV Leadership needs a change
“Do you think these organizations can coexist?” asked a reporter to the 15-time major champ at the presser ahead of the 2022 Hero World Challenge. “Right now as it is, not right now,” replied Tiger Woods as he added, “not with their leadership, not with Greg there and his animosity towards the Tour itself.” He also added how Greg Norman needs to exit for the two sides to figure something out: “I don’t see that happening… I think Greg’s got to leave, and then we can eventually, hopefully, have a stay between the two lawsuits and figure something out.”
Soon after, the two sides did drop the suit owing to the ‘framework agreement’ that came about in 2023. However, the animosity many PGA Tour pros had towards Norman seems to not have ‘dropped’ seeing as how the Australian shark is reportedly being replaced by the PIF, the body behind LIV Golf. Anyhow, pushing him completely out of the picture seems like a ‘no-go’ as of now, owing to the support he has from inside the league. But if the rumors do come out to be true, then he might very well have to say goodbye to his ‘CEO’ position!
