The ultimate fate of LIV Golf—whether it lives on for years or withers on the vine—remains uncertain, but its impact on professional golf is undeniable. The league that began in 2022 with money from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and poached a handful of the PGA Tour’s brightest stars with big-money contracts became a polarising force while also forcing the established circuit to re-examine its own approach to players and fans.

The result is a dramatically different landscape, and one that will keep changing with new investment and leadership at the PGA Tour.

Undeniable is that LIV likely would not have come into existence without the drive and desire of World Golf Hall of Famer Greg Norman, LIV Golf’s founding CEO, to finally see his career-long idea of a world tour come to fruition. What did he get out of it? A whole lot of personal and professional grief for partnering with a controversial country and its leadership, to go along with the satisfaction that he truly has changed the game in the long term, even if he is no longer front and centre in the process.

In January, Norman was replaced as LIV’s day-to-day leader by Scott O’Neill. He remained with the league until his contract expired in August. Since then, the 70-year-old has been focused on his golf design business and serving on the organising committee for the 2032 Olympic Games that will be held in Brisbane.

Norman’s thoughts about his time with LIV Golf linger, of course, and he shared many of those extensively for the first time in an interview with Australian Golf Digest that was published in the magazine’s November 2025 issue.

“I knew there were going to be a lot of headwinds. I didn’t anticipate the magnitude of those headwinds because … as time went by, those headwinds were created by misperceptions,” Norman said. “[But] once the Strategic Sports Group [SSG] came in [to partner with the PGA Tour], and once the other private equity money started rolling in, that was the catalyst for everybody to calm down a little bit, in my opinion. They started to see that what LIV did—bring private equity into the game of golf for the first time in 53 years—was a positive.”

Here are some excerpts from the interview:

On being “judged”

“I enjoyed my time at LIV. But I’ll be honest with you, it was hard. It was very draining on me. I was working 100-hour weeks. I’m not going to say all the abuse was anything [of consequence], but what hurt me the most was the lack of understanding of why people would judge me and give the abuse they did. That was the thing that bothered me the most, because I’m the type of guy who will happily sit down and talk about things. And if I’m wrong, I’ll admit I’m wrong. But don’t judge me. Don’t judge what LIV was truly all about.”

On LIV’s impact

“When you look back on the past 12 months, there’s been a realisation that all those investment dollars have done great things for the institutions as well as the players, in all parts of the world. Even with the PGA Tour [boosting its prize money with elevated events], I was quietly happy when I saw that, because the players benefited from it.

“Are they going to recognise LIV for doing that? No, but I do know that was a significant uptick for them. For them to be able to play for more money, even play in less competitive fields – they reduced the size of the fields – I just said, ‘Well, there you go.’ The adoption, to some degree, of what we implemented has been accepted.”

On his relationship with LIV’s players

“There were certain players that really came up to me [upon his departure], and there were a few others that came up to me and just thanked me for what I did for them, for being the tip of the spear, for taking it all on. Phil [Mickelson] took [plenty of heat] too, but I took it on behalf of all the guys, so that to me was part of the job—I had to do it, right? And if you’re going to make meaningful change, running through a brick wall without getting bloody, that’s not going to happen.

“So, the guys did reach out to me—not all of them, no—but probably Phil was the one who really was very open about it and appreciative of what I did do. ‘Poults’ [Ian Poulter] was the same, along with ‘Westy’ [Lee Westwood].”

On learning from successes and failures

“I’d do it again in a heartbeat. Like anything, you look back at losing a golf tournament and ask yourself, ‘Why did you lose that golf tournament? Did I hit a bad 5-iron? Or did I not concentrate?’ So, you sit back and you analyse it, and of course, you would do that. And, like any CEO, you have to learn by your successes just as much as by your failures. So, yes, absolutely I’d do it again.”

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On Thursday, former world No.1 and two-time Open Championship winner Norman took to social media to announce his time with the 54-hole league had finished.

“After four unforgettable years, I have officially closed out my time with LIV Golf, and reflecting with nothing but gratitude, pride and achievement,” Norman, 70, posted on Instagram.

While controversial at times, Norman has been praised for his ability to establish LIV Golf in 2022, when its debut season featured eight events and then 14 tournaments across the globe in its second (2023), third and fourth seasons.

When LIV’s current CEO, Scott O’Neil, took over in January this year, even Rory McIlroy, who has been a vocal critic of Norman and LIV Golf, said that “Greg took a lot of flak the first couple of years [but] he is probably one of the only guys in golf who could have taken on that role. He got it off the ground, and you have to commend him for that.”

Under Norman, LIV’s first wave of players in 2022 included massive names such as Bryson DeChambeau, Dustin Johnson, Cameron Smith, Sergio Garcia and Brooks Koepka. Ryder Cuppers Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton joined for the 2024 campaign. The league, which has struggled to gain TV audiences in the US, has resonated in global markets such as Australia, Spain, England, Korea, Hong Kong, and Mexico. The league also managed to secure an automatic exemption into both the US Open and Open Championship for the leading points scorer on its individual season-long standings. This year, Joaquin Niemann and Garcia took those exemptions into the US open and The Open, respectively.

Norman also worked closely with the South Australian government to establish LIV Golf Adelaide in 2023 and it instantly became the league’s flagship tournament. The event at The Grange GC has seen more than 100,000 fans through the gates in its past two editions and has been locked in for South Australia through 2031.

“Together, we built a movement that changed the game globally,” Norman’s post continued. “We created opportunities for both players and fans and broaden the ecosystem of golf. We truly globalised the game and expanded golf’s reach to fans around the world. We brought entertainment, innovation and private equity into golf (including to the PGA Tour) positioning the sport as an asset class. It’s been an incredible chapter, and I’m so proud of what we accomplished. My commitment to do what was and still is, the right thing for golf, the players and fans never wavered.

“Thank you to everyone who has been part of the journey with me during this time. I’ll always look back on this time with great fulfilment and appreciation.

“As for what’s next…stay tuned! Exciting times ahead. Onward to the next adventure.”

 

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