The former LIV Golf chief helped launch the breakaway league in June 2022 and was criticised and labelled an apologist for the human rights abuses of Saudi Arabia
Former LIV Golf boss Greg Norman has confessed he was “naive” to work for Saudi Arabia and not expect reputational damage. And the Great White Shark revealed his biggest regret during his four years as the chief executive of the breakaway league was an answer to my question.
The Australian, now 70, launched LIV Golf in June 2022 at The Centurion Club. Saudi Arabia was accused of sportswashing following the brutal murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Norman has always been a divisive figure in golf and his role was criticised as an apologist for the Kingdom’s human rights abuses. In an interview with the New York Times, Norman was asked if he considered how working with the Saudis could damage his reputation.
“I took that into consideration for sure,” he said. “But I was naïve. And once you’re in, you’re in. I’m not a quitter, so I’m just going to see it through for what I believe is right.”
But Norman did not help his reputation during a “Fireside Chat” with UK journalists at Centurion in May 2022 – a month before the launch of LIV Golf The CIA and the UN had recently concluded that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) had approved the operation to eliminate Khashoggi. Norman insisted: “I think everybody has owned up to it right? It has been spoken about.”
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Asked by myself if MBS has owned up to it, the double Open champion continued: “From what I’ve read. Just take ownership of whatever it is. Take ownership no matter what it is.
“Look, we’ve all made mistakes and you just want to learn by those mistakes and how you can correct them going forward. No I haven’t had a personal conversation with MBS, I’ve never met the guy but at the same time I do read that the Saudi government has made their statements and comments about it and they want to move forward.”
Speaking to the NYT, Norman admitted: “I think if I had to take something back from my entire three and a half years, I probably would have answered that question differently, or not answered it at all. Even though I tried to say it the way I felt — because we all do make mistakes no matter who you are or what you do — it’s the situation when you say it and how people interpret it.”
Norman admitted LIV Golf “100%” needed Saudi backing and acknowledged: “The massive headwinds right out of the gate used that as the detrimental side of money. When you look at all of the other investments the P.I.F. has done, direct and indirect, into the United States — and what the U.S. government has done in Saudi Arabia — you go: “Hmm, OK, really? Who turned this tap on?”
“But I get it. That’s when you’re fighting for your turf. You’re going to fight for it as hard as you possibly can.”
Asked about sportwashing, he retorted: “I don’t like the term because I don’t think it’s correct because everybody interprets it a different way.”
Norman’s departure from leading LIV Golf in February – the new chief executive is American Scott O’Neil – was expected to hasten a deal with the PGA Tour. But talks stalled after a February meeting at the White House with the future of LIV Golf in any future golf calendar a big obstacle to a permanent peace deal.
Norman, who was not invited to the Masters this week, said: “I have never been involved with the deal. People have asked me, “Have you spoken to Trump about it?” No, because I’m not involved.
“What’s the biggest obstacle to a deal? There’s one word that’s been used consistently wrong: merger. I don’t even know what the right word is. As far as I know from my boss at the time, it was never going to be a merger. LIV was always going to be a stand-alone.
“I can only go on what he (Yasir al-Rumayyan) says in our meetings: that LIV is a stand-alone, and LIV will be around long after he’s dead.”
