Why Tiger and Rory may not be too pleased with latest LIV Golf revelation

Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy's calls for LIV Golf's Greg Norman to quit seem essentially pointless after the revelation from the latest court documents.

Ben Smith's picture
Mon, 5 Dec 2022
Why Tiger and Rory may not be too pleased with latest LIV Golf revelation

Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy want LIV Golf's Greg Norman to quit, but even if the Australian did so it appears it would make little difference for peace talks with the PGA Tour. 

That is because in recently filed court documents, it has been alleged that Norman, 67, is the league's commissioner in name only

This news was first reported on by SI's Alex Miceli. The publication report that the PGA Tour used documents previously obtained in a motion to "paint a picture of who it believes really controls LIV Golf". 

Revealed: LIV Golf began as "Project Wedge"

According to the PGA Tour, Yasir Al-Rumayyan - not Norman - functions as LIV's chief executive and makes the key strategic decisions, approves the budget, participates in player recruitment and micromanages the day-to-day operations. 

Al-Rumayyan is the governor of Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund that is bankrolling LIV Golf. 

It has been reported that LIV Golf have spent as much as $2bn so far. 

The 52-year-old is also the chairman of Premier League football club Newcastle United. 

One extract in the court docs outlines: 

"PIF and Mr. Al-Rumayyan are central figures. They are the wizards behind the curtain: they call the shots, they approve the expenditures, and they supply the money."

There is also a curious redaction with regards to Norman, which also states: 

"Mr. Al-Rumayyan’s close supervision of LIV is consistent with PIF's internal description of Mr. Norman as a [redacted] for LIV."

Scroll down... 

This news comes as both Woods and McIlroy have made calls for the two-time Open champion to step away from LIV Golf

McIlroy said before the DP World Tour Championship that Norman needed to "exit stage left". 

While Woods, 46, gave one of his most explosive news conferences in quite some time when he addressed the media before last week's Hero World Challenge. 

Aside from claiming the Official World Golf Ranking system is flawed and that nobody owes Phil Mickelson an apology, the 15-time major champion called for Norman to step away so the PGA Tour and LIV could "speak freely". 

Woods wants LIV to make the first move, though, and put an end to their antitrust lawsuit. 

Norman, however, insists he isn't going on anywhere

He said he was going to continue to take the "high road", adding: 

"I pay zero attention to McIlroy and Woods, right? They have their agenda for whatever reason. They’re saying whatever they want to say. It has no bearing or effect on me. I’m going to be with LIV for a long, long period of time." 

There were unsubstantiated claims Norman was going to be "moved upstairs" by LIV chiefs and replaced by former TaylorMade chief Mark King. 

This was later denied. 

Elsewhere, the LIV Golf League is shaping up. As many as four venues have now been confirmed for 2023. 

Next page: Nine players who changed their mind about LIV Golf