With LIV Golf now officially dead as a business and, indeed, as an entity, it feels like a good time to look back at Greg Norman’s first ever press conference with the league.
It’s fair to say that Greg Norman has been one of LIV Golf’s loudest cheerleaders over the past few years, even after he exited his role as CEO of the league last year.
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The Australian enjoyed a wonderful career in the game, winning 88 professional tournaments worldwide, including 20 PGA Tour titles and two major championships.
However, Greg Norman, now 71, undoubtedly tarnished his legacy beyond all repair with his involvement in the inception of LIV Golf back in 2022.
Norman’s involvement with LIV caused friction in many of his relationships, with the vast majority of his fellow pros seeing through his real motives.
Looking back at Norman’s comments about LIV Golf back in 2022, it’s easy to see why so many had a problem with the stance that the two-time major winner took.
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What Greg Norman said during first ever LIV Golf press conference
During his first LIV Golf presser back in 2022, it was put to Norman that the league’s mere existence could have a hugely detrimental effect on the futures of the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour.
“Well, we’re not in this for a fight, there’s no question,“ the Australian insisted.
“We’re in this for the good of the game. That’s where we’re at. It’s disappointing to be honest, personally disappointing to see some of the attacks that have been taking place unwarrantedly. Any time you go into — if you pre-judge anybody without knowing the facts, then shame on you, to be honest with you.
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“Are you scared of something? What is LIV Golf Investments doing that you are scared of? Why do you have to have these attacks to this level? Understand the fact that we have always and continued to be very collaborative and cooperative with any of the institutions right across the board. We want to work together side by side.
“There’s a really interesting analogy. There’s a piece of pie, right? So if these institutions you’re talking about, if a piece of that pie has disappeared, does the pie get smaller or does the pie get bigger? We see the piece of pie that we’re taking, the opportunity to see through the lost opportunity, makes the pie bigger.
“When you look at Facebook, share price was $3 at one time. Now what is it? You’ve got to be able to give the ability to sit back and listen and understand the opportunities to sit side by side for the sport of golf. Simple as that. It’s all about the game.
“I cannot enforce this enough to anybody, The Times, anybody. It’s for the betterment of the game. It’s not for the betterment of the administrations or anything else. It’s the betterment for the players, the fans, the stakeholders, broadcasters, everybody across the board.
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“I would encourage them to sit back and say, maybe it’s a good time to sit down and understand if we can work side by side.“
It’s fair to say that those remarks now look simply ridiculous. That’s because LIV Golf’s intentions were clear from the outset.
They wanted to disrupt the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour, but fortunately for fans of the game, the former Saudi-backed league has lost the war in the end.
Norman clearly had delusions of grandeur and he quite obviously believed that LIV Golf was going to topple the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour.
However, he could not have been more wrong. The PGA Tour and the DP World Tour have prevailed against LIV Golf in the most emphatic way possible.
LIV Golf is now no more, and the likes of Greg Norman and those who tried to force the idea of the league down everyone’s throats now look incredibly foolish.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: Sports.yahoo.com
