agreed, dont get that at all. This is professional golf not some celebrity charity event. The fact that Charles thinks he belongs is kinda telling, no?
Greg Norman;
Q: What is your anticipation about the energy level this week playing in the New York market?
A: Look, this was a market we were going to focus on immediately, because the PGA Tour wasn’t focused on it. They’re not playing in New York, New Jersey, Boston, Chicago, which is insane. So, we wanted to make sure that we brought our product to this market, and New York City is obviously the home of the CEOs and the institutional money. So, it was logical that we get here sooner than later.
Q: Are you surprised by how many top players, such as Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka and Dustin Johnson, have signed on already?
A: The answer is no, because the number of conversations I’ve had with all the top players and their understanding of my mindset from three different categories — a player’s category, a brand-building category and from a CEO’s category. From a player’s category, they knew I had their back. For 45 years, I went through every piece of crap these players are going through, because there was only one institution in the game (the PGA Tour) and it was so unfair on us, on the players. So, I’m like a dog with a bone from a player’s perspective.
Q: What is your reaction to the criticism that has come about taking money from Saudi Arabia, which has such poor human rights records and policy?
A: We are not a political organization. We are here to play golf, serve fans, grow the game, and give additional opportunities to players. I also have seen first-hand the good that golf can do around the world, and Saudi Arabia is no different.
Q: Since the start, you’ve insisted the mission has not been about taking the PGA Tour down, but wanting to work with them. Do you still see a coexistence between LIV Golf and the PGA Tour with compromise on both sides?
A: One hundred percent. We have no intention to try to destroy the PGA Tour. Every step of the way we’ve built our model to work within the ecosystem and give everybody the opportunity to work within that ecosystem. It’s pro golf. There’s such a simple solution, it’s ridiculous. I can’t talk about it, because it’s a process we’ve gone through with our legal team knowing everything that’s in the rules and regulations. But it’s not a hard fix, it’s really not. And the longer they do it (suspend players), the less we’re worried about it because we have more people coming in and wanting to invest.
(LOL, i dont buy it Greg. He signed a has been Stenson, the Euro Ryder Cup Captain--- that dude cuoldnt make a cut on The Korn Ferry Tour. Signed him cause wanted to flex his muscles , show the fragility of even the 'sacred' Ryder Cup. Astonishing to me that this dude can lie so easily)
Q: Regarding Monahan, are you still as willing now as you were then to work with the PGA Tour?
A: If he wants to come and sit down right here right now, I’d sit down with him and say, “OK Jay, what’s your problem? What are your issues?”
(more LOL)
Q: Is there a part of you that’s surprised that Monahan and the PGA Tour didn’t take LIV Golf more seriously?
A: You’ve got to remember, I’ve got their playbook from ’94-95 (when Norman tried to start a world tour). They’ve almost played it back to the T. It’s almost identical. It’s almost a mirror, step-by-step — even to a comment they made about the DOJ (Department of Justice, which announced recently
it’s investigating the PGA Tour for its suspension of players who are playing in LIV events), saying, “We’ve done this before and we’re confident we can do it again.” It’s a totally different world today than it was back then. And, oh, by the way, there’s one person who’s been in the middle of it twice now and knows the playbook, and that’s me. What they did in ’94 (thwart Norman in starting a world tour), they think they can do again. We’ll see how it plays out.
Q: What do you make of the perception that because you tried to start that world tour in the ’90s, fighting Deane Beaman and Tim Finchem, this is a continuation of vendetta?
A: Look, that’s a very easy, shallow comment to make. It’s an easy out. This whole notion about me and Finchem, Beaman and Monahan, is it true?
Yeah, to a degree it is true, because I did challenge them on player rights.
Q: What drives you most about your involvement in LIV Golf?
A: Maybe my legacy is this, not what I did on the golf course. What I did on the golf course gave me the opportunity to see this chance and allowed me to do this.
Q: Everyone is waiting for Augusta National to weigh in, yet their top man, Fred Ridley, has been silent.
A: I spoke to Fred Ridley. They’ve weighed in pretty hard against (LIV). The majors should stay Switzerland, they have a responsibility for one event, not a league. But it also tells you is there a cabal there? This is the slippery slope you go down about what LIV is starting to expose.
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Greg has waited yrs for this. Kinda cool to have a blank cheque , fully backed with coin the PGA Tour cannot compete with. Can he make this entertaining, and have people wanting to watch?
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