{"id":159344,"date":"2025-09-21T13:50:16","date_gmt":"2025-09-21T13:50:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/159344\/"},"modified":"2025-09-21T13:50:16","modified_gmt":"2025-09-21T13:50:16","slug":"lynch-greg-norman-beats-liv-golf-to-the-exit-blustering-to-the-bitter-end","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/159344\/","title":{"rendered":"Lynch: Greg Norman beats LIV Golf to the exit, blustering to the bitter end"},"content":{"rendered":"

LIV Golf\u2019s<\/a> human resources team has a familiarity with revolving doors that rivals Chicago\u2019s department of buildings, but even those overworked folks must have been momentarily confused by Greg Norman\u2019s<\/a> recent chest-puffing social media post announcing the end of his tenure with the league since he was effectively kicked to the curb nine months ago when Scott O\u2019Neil<\/a> replaced him as CEO. Still, Norman can be forgiven a little conceit, given that severance can sometimes be literal for those in the orbit of Saudi Arabia\u2019s Crown Prince.<\/p>\n

The Great White Pilot Fish wrote that he leaves \u201cwith nothing but gratitude, pride and achievement,\u201d and presumably a healthier financial state. He was appointed CEO when LIV emerged from the shadows in 2021 and proved himself the perfect man for an unenviable job. Not in his ability to forge alliances or build a viable business, rather because he has in abundance the one trait his benefactors at the Saudi Public Investment Fund needed most in a front man: utter shamelessness.<\/p>\n

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Norman downplayed the bonesaw murder of Jamal Khashoggi \u2014 \u201cWe\u2019ve all made mistakes,\u201d he said, as though Crown Prince MBS had merely pulled the wrong club \u2014 and other human rights abuses by his employer, breezily noting that he\u2019d even witnessed women eating in restaurants. The Saudis needed someone willing to brazen out questions about atrocities and sportswashing, ideally a man also harboring animus toward the PGA Tour. The job description fit Norman as perfectly as a green jacket does Nick Faldo.<\/p>\n

\"LIV<\/p>\n

LIV Golf commissioner Greg Norman on the 1st hole on day three of LIV Golf Korea at Jack Nicklaus GC Korea on May 04, 2025 in Incheon, South Korea.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been an incredible chapter, and I\u2019m so proud of what we accomplished,\u201d Norman wrote. \u201cMy commitment to do what was and still is the right thing for golf, the players and fans never wavered.\u201d (At the risk of pedantry, Greg, \u201cwaiver\u201d involves voluntarily relinquishing a right or privilege, while \u201cwaver\u201d means to shake or quiver, as one might when facing dissection by hitmen in a faraway consulate, for example).<\/p>\n

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\u201cAs for what\u2019s next \u2026 stay tuned! Exciting times ahead. Onward to the next adventure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Veterans of Norman\u2019s posturing posts know not to read any significance into that tease since he once breathlessly touted a game-changing innovation that was ultimately revealed as nothing more than golf carts wired to the internet. \u201cThe golf industry has been starved for real innovation that encourages real change for real growth,\u201d he declared at the time, proving that he has always had but one script for every scene. Still, Norman\u2019s inability to feel embarrassment, willingness to recast damning data as a positive, and eagerness to embrace vainglorious autocrats ought to make him a front-runner for the next vacancy in Donald Trump\u2019s cabinet.<\/p>\n

Regardless of whether it\u2019s Norman or O\u2019Neil sitting atop the smoldering pile of cash ashes, LIV wobbles onward with boosters claiming success is at hand, much as \u2018Comical Ali\u2019 insisted there were no American \u201cinfidels\u201d in Baghdad even as U.S. tanks rolled through the very neighborhood in which he was addressing TV cameras. The league\u2019s fourth season having concluded, we now commence the annual rumormongering about Yasir Al-Rumayyan doubling down and signing new stars. The PIF governor\u2019s problem is that there are only a few players whose defections could impact LIV\u2019s trajectory \u2014 Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth \u2014 and they\u2019re not going anywhere.<\/p>\n

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That leaves LIV with the same dog-eared playbook: sign rising stars who haven\u2019t risen enough to be considered actual stars, or perpetually injured journeymen whose absence from the PGA Tour would be noticed only by alert insurance adjusters. In short, guys tempted by a gilded retirement without the inconvenience of having to accomplish anything along the way.<\/p>\n

\"Newcastle<\/p>\n

Newcastle United director and chief executive of the Saudi Golf Federation Majed Al Sorour, Newcastle United chairman and Saudi Public Investment Fund governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan and Chief executive of LIV Golf Investments Greg Norman pictured during day three of the LIV Golf Invitational at The Centurion Club on June 11, 2022 in St Albans, England.<\/p>\n

Al-Rumayyan may well spend to retain the services of those already hired, like Dustin Johnson, whose contract nears expiration, but that\u2019s just buying time, not doubling down. He must know the current roster isn\u2019t going to make LIV a success, that an audience of scale is non-existent, that sponsor and broadcaster interest is limited to companies PIF can strong-arm, or that don\u2019t want to jeopardize other commercial interests in Saudi Arabia. Al-Rumayyan\u2019s only parachute remains a seemingly improbable deal with the PGA Tour and DP World Tour, which is why he jettisoned the widely unpopular Norman in the first place.<\/p>\n

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Al-Rumayyan\u2019s pride notwithstanding, LIV isn\u2019t essential to the Saudi goal of using sport to launder its international image, and golfers aren\u2019t the only athletes willing to prostrate themselves as propagandists for the government. Tom Brady is among several NFL players to sign on for a flag football tournament in Riyadh next March. That event is under the auspices of the General Entertainment Authority, which is run by Turki Al-Sheikh, a close confidante of the Crown Prince and a central figure in the Kingdom\u2019s sports ambitions. When it comes to enticing faded stars to play a faded facsimile of a sport fans actually care about, Al-Sheik has already proven himself Al-Rumayyan\u2019s equal, at a fraction of the price. And if he needs a towel boy for Brady, there\u2019s one ideal candidate looking for work.<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Lynch: Greg Norman beats LIV Golf to the exit, blustering to the end<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LIV Golf\u2019s human resources team has a familiarity with revolving doors that rivals Chicago\u2019s department of buildings, but…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":159345,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[443],"tags":[49,48,622,20931,83171,39371,3747,13341,83170,83169,82],"class_list":["post-159344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-golf","tag-greg-norman","tag-jamal-khashoggi","tag-liv","tag-pga-tour","tag-saudi-arabia","tag-saudi-public-investment-fund","tag-scott-oneil","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=159344"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159344\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/159345"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=159344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=159344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=159344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}