Greg Norman: LIV Golf was worth "every .50-calibre bullet in my back"

Greg Norman says his time with LIV Golf was worth all the hate mail and every ".50-calibre bullet in my back".

The Australian became the face of the breakaway tour when it launched in June 2022.

He helped lure several major champions and multiple PGA Tour winners to the league with contracts worth millions of dollars and huge prize purses.

The former Open champion became one of the most polarising figures in golf as he challenged the establishment.

His public feud with Rory McIlroy became a feature of the split, and The Shark also faced criticism from Tiger Woods.

Norman was replaced as chief executive in January 2025 when his contract expired, with former NBA executive Scott O'Neil taking over. 

O'Neil is currently pressing ahead to help LIV ensure its survival after Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) decided to withdraw its multi-billion-dollar backing of the venture.

In a wide-ranging interview with Golf Digest, Norman insists all the criticism was worth it.

"Because there was only one way for me to get players' values recognised, was to push it, push it, push it, push it," said Norman, who also described being surprised by the severity of the backlash he received.

"When I spoke to the captains of LIV, trying to help them understand how to build equity in this team of yours, how to make sure you get this, because to me it was all about the player and the product.

"They worked hand-in-hand, rising for votes, but to get them to another level of financial reward that they couldn't have had any other way, it was worth it.

"It was worth every howitzer, every .50-calibre bullet in my back, every hatred piece of mail I got.

"At the end of the day, the game of golf today is better off because of what [PIF governor] Yasir Al-Rumayyan did with LIV.

"The sport is better off.

"My final comment on this is, while I travel the world, even today, golf was designed.

"And I'm saying this with my hand on the heart, no one person in the last five years has ever come to me and said, what an absolute fool you are for doing LIV and doing this and doing that.

"No one. No one person has come to me and said, I did the wrong thing."

Norman has faced accusations that he was simply trying to destroy the PGA Tour.

He previously outlined plans for a world tour when he was at the top of his game.

In 1994, Norman gathered the top players at Sherwood Country Club to outline his proposal to build a rival to the PGA Tour.

The plan quickly ran into resistance, with the likes of Arnold Palmer fiercely opposed to it.

Norman insisted that his idea was for LIV to complement the existing schedule.

"So when I started the idea of the world tour, that was it," he said. 

"Take the best athletes in golf around the world to showcase to the world, to grow the game from grassroots all the way up to corporate, to network, to everything.

"But at the same time, I wanted to give the players ownership in that tour. 

"Not like the PGA Tour, where you're just that pass-through entity. You had ownership.

"You commit to it. You're a developer. You help promote it.

"And at the end of the day, whatever equity in you, equity is going to rise in value.

"The thing I didn't do with the world tour was the team aspect. That's what LIV did.

"I never played team golf. We never played the Ryder Cup. I never played in the Olympics on the team.

"The Presidents Cup came around. I enjoyed that side of it because I grew up in Australia playing team sport. I played cricket.

"I played rugby. I played rugby league. I played Aussie rules.

"So when LIV came along and had that team component to it, I thought, yes, I really like this model because, A, they were looking at the world and, B, they were trying to build team equity, team value in each one.

"So to me, they just added a few more cherries on top of the cake, as far as I'm concerned."

There were reports that Phil Mickelson's controversial remarks about Saudi Arabia and its issues with human rights abuse almost brought down LIV before it even began.

But Norman said he knew that LIV was always going to get off the ground.

Asked if there was anything he would have done differently, Norman said that he would've preferred LIV Golf to stage 10 events outside of the United States first.

"Because when you go in there and you start poking the bear, the bear is going to react," he said, referring to the PGA Tour.

"The bear didn't want to sit down and understand the opportunity to co-exist in the ecosystem."

The PGA Tour is currently pressing ahead with its plans for a two-tier schedule, which begins in two years' time.

Norman believes the PGA Tour is now in a better spot and its new chief executive, Brian Rolapp, is a "breath of fresh air".

"He takes his time, understands it, listens to the players, which I think is fantastic," Norman said.

He added: "It's done the world of sport golf, the world of good.

"Players are better off, PGA Tour is better off, better structure, SSG [Strategic Sports Group] is in there now, they want their ROI.

"You know, as anybody, if you're a CEO of a company, you want to return on your investment.

"You want your responsibility. Now Brian is responsible to the SSG. He's responsible to the players.

"He's responsible to the network. He's responsible to corporations. He's responsible with golf.

"It's a better environment today. 

"Now, if we had taken that attitude today, back four years ago, of course, both could have worked in the ecosystem."