For a long time, Greg Norman has been fighting for his LIV Golf Invitational Series, striving for the highest possible field of participants and hosting the first events of the new golf league. Now the 67-year-old is stirring things up again: he wants to launch an LIV Golf League for women and thus support women’s golf.
The women’s league as a “logical step”
“We have discussed it internally, the possibility is there,” Greg Norman let the bombshell drop this week. For several months, the Australian has been drawing attention with his controversial LIV Golf Invitational Series. Also called the “Saudi League,” his tour enjoys the full support of Saudi Arabia. The country has been criticized primarily for human rights violations and the oppression of women – so the combination with women’s golf seems questionable.
Incomprehensible for Greg Norman: One of the biggest sponsors of women’s golf, Aramco, also comes from Saudi Arabia. In this case, however, no one is complaining about Saudi support: “Why is it OK for them and nobody barks at them?” Norman said. “But the boys, they’re barking at you.” Norman points to Jacksonville, the site of the headquarters of the PGA Tour, which vehemently opposes LIV Golf.
LIV Golf for Women: From enthusiasm to skepticism
Cristie Kerr, a two-time major winner and player on the LPGA Tour, sees great potential in Greg Norman’s business model. She has no doubt that many players would defect to the new tour: “Put it this way, I think you would see almost the entire tour do it here. What we play for here compared to the men’s Tour, the scale is different.” At the same time, she points to the LPGA Tour’s increasing prize money and that an exciting development of the tours can be expected. True to the motto: competition stimulates business.
Karrie Webb, 7-time major winner, on the other hand, expresses concern. “I know that he’s had this vendetta against the PGA Tour as long as I’ve known him,” Webb, who like Norman is from Australia, told Golfweek. “So I don’t think there would be any changing him. I would just ask him that in his ambition to succeed, that he doesn’t ruin women’s golf in the process.”