When Greg Norman quietly stepped away from his role as CEO and commissioner of LIV Golf last month, it raised more than a few eyebrows. After all, the man once front and center of one of sport’s most disruptive ventures had suddenly vanished from view. Now, the 70-year-old Aussie golf icon has finally broken his silence on his move, and he’s not holding back. In an exclusive and deeply personal interview with Australian Golf Digest for its November 2025 issue, Norman peeled back the curtain on what life was really like behind the scenes of LIV Golf.

“I enjoyed my time at LIV. But I’ll be honest with you, it was hard,” Norman admitted. Although Norman created a legacy while he was there, his position was always surrounded by controversy, and, as he now reveals, it came at a cost far greater than most realized.

“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,” Norman added, on the personal toll LIV Golf took.

Greg Norman, once golf’s golden boy and later the face of one of the sport’s most divisive shifts, has long been accused of selling out and burning bridges through his role with LIV. To him, though, LIV wasn’t about politics but about breaking a system that needed change — even if it meant facing fierce backlash from fans, media, and former allies. Norman maintains that the disruption ultimately reshaped golf for the better.

“Speaking from the comfort of his new Florida office and surrounded by the empire that is The Greg Norman Company, Greg Norman insists that he’d ‘do it all again in a heartbeat.’ And while some saw his social media sign-off in September as a PR stunt — considering he was effectively replaced by Scott O’Neil nearly nine months earlier — Norman insists he left on his own terms, with ‘nothing but gratitude, pride and achievement.’”

Now, with the dust settling and a new chapter underway, Norman is back doing what he loves, and his departure came at the right time, considering recent reports of LIV’s financial sinkhole.

Greg Norman Stepped Away Just in Time

In hindsight, Greg Norman’s quiet exit from LIV Golf might have been better timed than even he realised. While he maintains his departure was mission accomplished, the financial reality now facing LIV paints a much bleaker picture, and one Norman may be relieved to be watching from the sidelines.

Despite the league being known for its large sums of contracts offered to golfers, it has burned through over $1.1 billion in losses since 2022, just in its UK operations. The numbers for the U.S., where the spending has been even more lavish, remain undisclosed, but it could probably be much worse.

Longtime golf analyst Brandel Chamblee didn’t miss the opportunity to take a dig at the Saudi-backed league when news of LIV’s mounting financial woes surfaced. “It’s not unusual for startups to lose money in the first few years,” he acknowledged in a post on X. “But most startups correct mistakes… LIV seems convinced that they have what golf is missing and have not made adjustments, despite compelling evidence that their model isn’t working.” His sharp critique underlines what many have been whispering, that LIV is refusing to course-correct.

Norman, who once stood as the face of that bold model, now finds himself at a comfortable distance from the fallout. While he may still defend the vision, it’s hard to ignore that his exit came just as LIV’s financial cracks have turned deeper. Whether by design or coincidence, the White Shark may have jumped ship at the perfect time — just before LIV’s billion-dollar burn rate began to outpace even the deep pockets of the Saudi Public Investment Fund.