“I enjoyed my time at LIV. But I’ll be honest with you, it was hard”, said Australia’s Great White Shark, referring to his tenure as the CEO of LIV Golf. Greg Norman led the  Saudi-backed league since its inception back in October 2021, and he continued to head the league till the end of the 2024 season. And now, months after his controversial rule as the CEO, Norman has again shared a debatable opinion that takes a direct dig at the workings of the PGA Tour.

The Australian legend recently joined sports analyst Mark Bouris’ podcast, Straight Talk. While sitting for the candid discussion, Bouris shared his take on the LIV Golf-PGA Tour debacle and said that just like borrowers don’t care which bank the money comes from, people shouldn’t fixate on where LIV Golf’s funding originates. 

He started off by saying, “Just money actually literally makes the world go around and people want your money to do something they dream about.” Bouris shared his take on how people fail to look past the Saudi criticism and focus instead on the greater good LIV Golf has brought to the table for the players and the greater good of the sport. Norman immediately shared his opinion on the same and added, “Ofcourse you can’t run through a brick wall without getting bloody.”

Norman, who has indeed faced the wrath of criticism and controversy, alongside LIV golfers like Bryson DeChambeau and co, as he led the Saudi-backed league, questioned why there was so much negative messaging and “back-channeling” against LIV Golf instead of honest, direct discussions. In his view, when two sides want to do business, they sit at the same table, share views and ideas, negotiate, and move forward. But somewhere, the former PGA Tour star believes that the open conversation never happened. 

“When you don’t sit down at the table and you don’t understand the facts and you do all this whatever it is that that front-loaded, umm,,,negative sentiment that creates the hype that creates the angst. So by just sitting down in the beginning and understanding exactly what we had to offer in the beginning none of this would have existed, none of this angst would have happened”, stated Norman. But alongside that, Norman believes that there’s a lot to be still unraveled about what happened behind the curtains for the PGA Tour during this chaotic phase.

He compared the scenario to the Watergate scandal, and added, “What is really the the behind the scenes that and it’ll all come out just like what happened with Watergate. Sooner or later, something will come out that some forensic journalist will stumble upon. And you know, again, I said it before, the truth will set you free.” He further added, “So that’s why I sit back and go, why did that take place? What are they trying to not saying they did, what are they trying to cover up? Why aren’t they wanting to sit down? Forget the the PIF and the Saudis and that the investment into sport is the investment into sport. Simple. Investment of the US government into into the Saudi government is investment. It’s investment, right? It’s a business transaction.” 

However, although Greg Norman unapologetically voices his opinion on the matter, it wasn’t a cake walk for him to tackle the whole scenario when he sat in the position of LIV’s CEO. He himself told Bouris, “So, I stayed true to the course of what I was doing. Did it sting? Damn right it stung a lot.” Months after his tenure as the CEO concluded, he reflected on how the whole scenario was for him.

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Greg Norman emotionally reflected on his turbulent LIV Golf tenure

It all began as a battle for dominance in the realm of professional golf. LIV entered the game with massive contracts, and as the PGA started to suspend its golfers, the whole chaotic scenario unfolded. And the one person who had to face it all from the front row was Greg Norman, as he became the CEO of LIV during its inception. He concluded his reign before the 2025 season began. 

Months later, Norman shared his unfiltered take, and he said, “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.” 

Despite the whole chaotic upheaval, Norman seemingly tried to do his best as he led the Saudi-backed league. He shared, “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.” Now, as he has passed on the responsibilities to Scott O’Neil, who has already decided to bring in a few massive changes in the league, only time will tell how the future turns out for LIV Golf.