Greg Norman is stepping down as LIV Golf’s CEO after a tenure defined by controversy, criticism, and fractured loyalties. What began as a bold attempt to “reinvent” golf devolved into lawsuits and nonstop backlash. Still, Norman leaves claiming victory, crediting himself not only for LIV’s disruptive splash but also for pushing the PGA Tour to open its wallet.

On Instagram, Norman called his LIV tenure a “movement” that changed golf and created opportunities for players and fans. He added, “We truly globalized 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.” The “private equity” remark stands out. LIV, once written off amid backlash and shaky optics, still reshaped the sport with new formats, team concepts, and big money. That disruption forced the PGA Tour to adapt.

That’s where the private equity came in. To keep up, the Tour created the “PGA Tour Enterprises” and brought in Strategic Sports Group (SSG), a consortium led by Fenway Sports Group. It received an investment of up to $3 billion for about a 25% stake. For the first time, nearly 200 players got equity in the business. Even back then, Norman took the credit for this. “Golf is now viewed as an asset class. We proved this was possible…This…would not have happened without the emergence of LIV Golf as an innovative force in the golf ecosystem,” Norman had said. At the same time, the PGA Tour was also negotiating with PIF, which funds LIV, for a $1.5 billion deal under the ambit of what it then called the “framework deal,” bringing the true rivals together. Although the deal stalled and has not been finalized, with many saying “it was tough to meet in the middle.”

And here’s the thing: for most of its history, the PGA Tour ran as a non-profit, which pulled in money through sponsorships, media rights, and tournament fees. It did have strong corporate ties but never external private equity partners. So while LIV and Greg Norman, for that matter, didn’t directly bring SSG to the PGA Tour, the Great White Shark isn’t entirely wrong in saying it was their emergence as a rival, which shook things up.

Moreover, LIV’s push to redefine traditional golf, with entertainment-driven tournaments and heavy digital fan engagement, even prompted PGA Tour stars like Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy to launch TGL, a venture that transcends the usual boundaries of the sport. McIlroy called it “golf, but reimagined, sort of trying to take [it] into the 21st century.” And through all of this, Norman and LIV kept trying for both entities to come together. “You’re just going to see both entities continue to grow, and I hope at some point we’ll come back together. It needs to happen,” he had said once. In fact, recently, LIV’s Chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan also laid out his vision for the PGA Tour’s growth, saying he wants it to boom on the global stage the way tennis and Formula 1 have.

So yeah, somewhere or other, LIV Golf and Greg Norman did have a role to play in mixing things up at the PGA Tour. As he closes the chapter, Norman is proud of what he has done for the game of golf. “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.” Let us take a look at some of his achievements as the CEO of LIV.

How Greg Norman shaped LIV

Greg Norman may have stepped down as LIV Golf’s CEO, but the league’s current shape has his fingerprints all over it. Under his leadership, LIV won the “Most Innovative Leagues” award at the 2025 Front Office Sports Honors. Since its launch in 2022, LIV has been able to reach over 875 million households and pull record crowds – 60,000 in Indianapolis and more than 100,000 in Adelaide.

On the digital side, LIV rolled out innovations like the Any Shot, Any Time app and The Duels on YouTube, which racked up millions of views. The league now boasts over 400,000 YouTube subscribers, and while US TV viewership still trails the PGA Tour by a wide margin, LIV has been able to carve out a younger, online-focused audience.

But none of this growth came without a cost. LIV is backed by more than $1 billion from Saudi Arabia’s PIF, with total capital approval nearing $3.9 billion and heavy operating losses. It included nearly $396 million in 2023 from its UK arm alone. Still, events like Adelaide generated over $80 million in local economic activity, showing its impact beyond the course.

Love him or hate him, Norman was the one who steered PIF’s money into a league that disrupted golf, forced the PGA Tour to rethink its model, and pushed the sport into uncharted territory.