WEST PALM BEACH — About 18 months ago, Greg Norman sold his home on Jupiter Island and ranch in northwest Colorado and was headed back to his native Australia.
That’s when he was presented with a business model for a new golf league.
Norman then took a few months to look it over, tweak it, and decided he was not leaving the United States. The only problem …
“My wife Kiki said to me, ‘You know we’re homeless,’” he said.
So Norman got on Zillow and looked at homes in Old Palm in Palm Beach Gardens.
“We walk around the house, my wife is walking around like this,” Norman said giving a thumbs up sign. “I said to the owner ‘How much do you want for the house?’ I offered him more than his asking price. I said, ‘Close the deal. Close it right now. Cash.’ ”
Minutes later Norman was on the steps of his private plane, headed to Colorado, negotiating the final deal. He paid $12.2 million for his new home after pocketing $55.1 million for the Jupiter Island home and $52 million for the ranch in Meeker, Colo.
“It’s crazy, you can’t make this s— up,” he said.
Norman, who successfully developed golf courses around the world after a Hall of Fame playing career in which he won more than 90 tournaments worldwide, including two Open Championships, is now on a new adventure — the controversial LIV Golf Series.
Norman established LIV’s U.S. headquarters in a high rise in downtown West Palm Beach, settling into an office on the 14th floor with a view of the Intracoastal, Palm Beach and the Atlantic Ocean.
The office, though, is temporary. Norman has reserved about 30,000 square feet of space in a building being built adjacent to the one LIV is in now. He envisions it becoming LIV’s main headquarters with 216 employees.
Along with the vision — and the view — has come the backlash for being the CEO of a league not only challenging the PGA Tour but one financially backed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.
This week, I sat down with Norman for an exclusive interview about the controversial series and covered topics ranging from the politics of LIV Golf and its future, to the backlash from the PGA Tour and its players to Norman’s own legacy.
Here is our Q&A with Norman:
Building LIV Golf
Q: When did you first think about starting a new league?
A: In 1994, ’95 I wanted to start one because I knew being a global player at that time golf had an opportunity. There was virgin space sitting there available for the players to have an equity stake in growing another tour for their own right. I always fought for players’ independent rights for decades.
Kerry Packer in Australia was one of my best friends. I saw what Kerry did for cricket and thought, ‘My God, if he can do that for cricket, look at where it is today with franchise values in India in the billions of dollars for team cricket.’ So I got a lot of this education and foresight very early on in my career and I knew I could move the needle because of my playing ability and my personality.
Q: Was recruiting players to join LIV easier or more difficult than you envisioned?
A: I thought it wasn’t either one. It wasn’t difficult because once you sat down with the players, walking through the business model and seeing the opportunity from a franchise perspective, looking into the future was easy. Getting them to understand the business model and their agents was the difficult part. Once they grasped hold of it, done. Bingo.
Q: Was the PGA Tour ripe for someone to come along and start a rival tour?
A: 100 percent. They rested on their laurels thinking they’re the only game in town, they’re the monopolist, they can control the game and this is the way it’s going to be. From a player’s perspective I’ve always said the Tour works for us, we don’t work for the Tour. And I was in the minority with that voice.
Q: Did you envision this level of backlash from the Tour?
A: I knew their game plan before it even started because of what happened in ’94 and ’95. Obviously the game is a little different because of the financial backer we have, because of the players looking at it in a different prism, the fans are looking at it in a different prism. I think the PGA Tour, I actually feel sorry for them because they’ve really hurt themselves by the rhetoric they’ve been spreading.
I’ve taken the high road. OK, you want to say these stupid things, go right ahead. Our business model has stood up to the players and they absolutely love it. Our product has stood up to the players and the fans and they absolutely love it.
Q: Your reaction to the Department of Justice investigating whether the PGA Tour engaged in anticompetitive behavior in the fight with LIV Golf?
A: They brought it on themselves. We haven’t done anything other than putting together a business model and giving independent contractors a right to earn a living doing something else, as well as still being a member of the PGA Tour. The entire business model from the ground up was built to coexist within the ecosystem of golf, coexist within the majors, coexist with the DP World Tour, coexist with the PGA Tour. Allowing the players to play here and play there.
That is a testament to their stupidity, quite honestly. Instead of sitting down and taking a phone call from us and just say, ‘hey, work this out. We can do it.’ It’s an easy fix it’s ridiculous.
Professional team golf
Q: Where did the team aspect come from?
A: We did a 12-month survey on a global basis, “What do the fans want?” Part of that survey was me going to the Ryder Cup and seeing that fan engagement from a team perspective and I said, ‘This is what it’s all about. This is what we got to do.’ Right there and then I knew it. The fan survey came back saying that we want to see more team golf.
The players want the individual side from a competitive standpoint, we need that. But how do you integrate and bring in more fan engagement, you create the team side. How do you create a team? You bring in a principal player, give them a franchise to build themselves. The league owns 75 percent and they own 25 percent. A healthy team, a healthy league, no different then any other league, NFL, NBA, cricket. We’re going to monitor and help them build their team value.
Q: So the ultimate goal is for 12 teams to run themselves, do their own marketing, sell their own sponsorships?
A: Yeah, absolutely. (It’s the principal player’s) responsibility to manage that team. You have to bring in the people. You have to bring in the management. We’ll oversee that and we’ll help. And that’s how you build this value. The number of players that are principal players today that are excited about the opportunity is just incredible. To see them engaging with our internal team is infectious.
Now when you see Carlos Ortiz holing a 40 footer (in Portland) and the team members erupting and making more money than they’ve ever made in one tournament, that’s what it’s all about. … And wives and significant others coming up to me and saying, ‘I’ve never seen my husband so happy.’ This is the stuff these people don’t see or hear.
Q: How confident are you that you’ll be able to sell these teams?
A: I’m very confident. Understanding that it’s never been done before in golf and understanding the popularity of golf on a global basis and understanding the virgin space sitting there and the lost opportunities the PGA Tour hasn’t taken control of … I think the chances of ultimate success are very high. The fans are embracing it after six rounds of golf, the energy level within is enough to say I’m very, very confident it’s going to be an easy product to get out there.
‘Firestorm’ of controversy
Q: Your reaction to the players who have been outspoken against LIV?
A: Shame on (those) who create this firestorm of controversy when you look within their own system when they got 23 odd sponsors who do $40-plus billion dollars of business with Saudi Arabia. C’mon, seriously? If you’re going to go down this path just be ready to accept you’re going to get some stuff coming back your way. And it’s not hard to find it.
Billy Horschel made this comment about the hypocrisy of the (LIV) players. I’m sorry for Billy for saying that because I’ve sat down with Billy Horschel, I’ve talked to him … just be true to yourself when you’re making those comments. Because he has seen what LIV is all about.
Q: So with the money coming from Saudi Arabia you knew there would be backlash?
A: Let’s just take Saudi money away from it, it was going to happen irrespective because you’re going up against a monopolist. If it was a hedge fund out of New York, would it be any different? Maybe, because it was U.S. money. I can’t answer that question because it’s not the case. But I will say, the business model, because it’s disrupting a monopolist, it would have happened.
Q: Did you ever hesitate one bit because of where the money is coming from?
A: Me, no. Why? Because I’ve been to Saudi Arabia. I’ve been building golf courses in Saudi Arabia. I was part of the internal change in their culture to some small, small degree because golf is a force for good on a global basis.
When I see the good the game of golf is doing within the country, it’s no different than Vietnam. Pick a country where I’ve built a golf course I can tell you point blank the value golf has brought to that country. We are building multiple golf courses in Vietnam. Vietnam is a third-world communist country. Vietnam recognizes golf and its free market capitalism has been a godsend to them. It’s just exploded in that country and created a 6-to-1 tourism dollar improvement. And Saudi Arabia is doing the same thing, using the game of golf as a force for good to open their country up to tourism.
It’s just insanity to me people sit back and try to hurt the development of the game of golf though political or whatever reasons. It just disappoints me so much because I see the true value of what golf has done on a global basis.
Q: What was your reaction when Golf Channel analyst Brandel Chamblee called for your removal from the World Golf Hall of Fame?
A: I find it laughable. Has Brandel Chamblee ever been to Saudi Arabia? Has he ever built a golf course in a third world country? He’s a paid talking bobblehead. That’s all he is. He’s got my phone number. He’s never picked up a phone and asked me a question. Sadly, you’re making yourself look like a jerk. It’s like water off a duck’s back to me.
LIV-ing in the pro golf ecosystem
Q: Do you believe LIV golfers will earn World Golf Ranking points?
A: We have abided by all the technical rules committee’s requests. We checked all the boxes. Our strength of field is there. The criteria for the ask is there. I hope as an independent organization they remain independent for benefit of growing the game of golf. They’ve done it for other tours.
A general view of signage during a practice round prior to the LIV Golf Invitational – Portland at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club on June 27, 2022 in North Plains, Oregon. (Photo by Steve Dykes/LIV Golf/via Getty Images)
Q: Two events in, has it exceeded your expectations?
A: Going into Centurion, my expectation was, OK, we’re not really in London, we’re at a golf course. Was it a great recognized golf course? Not really. How are we going to be received? We were received really well. So I would give London on a scale of 1 to 10, I’d give it a 7.5.
Then we’re getting ready for Portland and we’re all very nervous about Portland because of the Oregonian attitude toward Saudis. The elephant in the room, right? We had letters from the 11 mayors against us. From our CSR (corporate social responsibility) we got rejection, rejection, rejection. OK, this is going to be an interesting week.
We go in there expecting the worst and it turned out to be 11 out of 10 because the fans spoke. It was about the game of golf. It wasn’t about Saudi money. It was about Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau, Phil Mickelson. Portland, the northwest, was starved for golf. It was a resounding success. I walked three holes every day with the fans. I’m signing autographs and I’m going, ‘Oh my gosh, this is real.’
Q: Do you need a stronger field than two in the top 20 and about 20 of the top 100?
A: We have more announcements coming. Out of respect to The Open we’re not going to make any announcement this week.
Q: Where do you stand on players?
A: We’ve closed the shop (with 48 players). We’re closed going into 2023.
Q: If a player in the top 10 approaches you in December what will you do?
A: That is a great problem to have and we will discuss it internally to figure out what needs to be done if anything. I’ve always respected and honored the first movers and I’m not going to disrupt them.
Future of LIV Golf
Q: Can you ever see a merger with the PGA Tour like we saw with the AFL and NFL, or the ABA and the NBA?
A: 100 percent I do. (PGA Tour commissioner) Jay Monahan, if he had the decency to take our meetings right from the get-go none of this stuff would be in place today. The game of golf would be in a much better place. The Tour would be in a much better place. European golf would be in a much better place.
In the world of business if you got a competitor coming to challenge you, understand what your competitor’s got by sitting down and signing an NDA, having a conversation and see (what) works for us.
It just baffles me they haven’t even had the decency to do it. We opened the door for them a couple of times and they didn’t want to come in.
Q: Are you worried this will tarnish your image?
A: I answer that this way, unless you truly understand the business model and the good LIV is going to do for the game of golf, then don’t even bring that up. Maybe my legacy had always meant to be this. My legacy on the golf course was: I love to play the game of golf, I could put bums on seats, I could hit a white golf ball from point A to point B better than most. And I was proud of doing it.
Maybe the lost opportunity in the game of golf has been brought to another place because of my vision, my belief, my commitment. And it’s not just me — I have executives from all around the world, they’re not involved with sports but they’re the smartest business people I’ve ever been around — it’s just because I’m the CEO. I’m extremely proud of it. It doesn’t bother me how people have their opinions because they don’t know the facts.
Tom D’Angelo is a journalist at the Palm Beach Post. You can reach him at tdangelo@pbpost.com.
The article "Q&A: Greg Norman's vision for LIV Golf, PGA Tour players creating 'firestorm of controversy,' and more" was originally published on https://golfweek.usatoday.com/2022/07/13/greg-norman-qa-vision-for-liv-golf-pga-tour/
