LIV CEO Greg Norman: “It wasn’t difficult to convince Rahm”

Jon Rahm’s new deal with LIV Golf is, without ant doubt, one of the big news stories of the year. One of the main protagonists to make the operation become a reality was Greg Norman, CEO of the tour which is promoted by the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF). The former golfer, winner of two British Opens, chatted to AS from Diriyah, Saudi Arabia about Rahmbo’s incorporation as well as other current topics, such as the agreement between PIF and PGA Tour or the changes that are coming to LIV.

You’ve finally signed Jon Rahm. How excited are you about that?

It’s just an indication that our platform is truly sought after by a lot of great players. Jon is obviously a huge asset to us. We’ve got a tremendous cast of great players at LIV Golf. We’re going through this process of continuing to build and grow LIV, getting bigger and better. We have had the promotion and relegation series just recently in Abu Dhabi; we had four guys dropped off boy, one guy had already qualified from the Asian Tour and then we had three more coming in. So when Jon came on, it’s just bolstered everything and just validated what our business model represents. And it also validated the fact that players love the team concept. They love it so much they’ve got a little of it with the Ryder Cup and the Presidents Cup. But for Jon, when he started looking at LIV, it reminded him so much of his NCAA collegiate life, which was about the team, team, team... individual score counted and and team score counted. So, when you keep hearing these players talk about LIV and what it can deliver for them, obviously from a generational wealth standpoint, I’m happy for the fact that Jon has had that opportunity, as so many others have had, to also capture it as well.

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How were those negotiations with Rahm? Was it difficult to convince him?

It wasn’t really hard to convince Jon, to be honest. He had already started understanding the program, and has got a lot of friends on LIV. We don’t need to name them, but he has a lot of friends and he kept asking people, asking those individuals about LIV. And they kept raving about LIV, the health and wellness - that everybody’s happy, they’ve got time off, they get time with their family. So he kept on hearing all of those positive vibes around what LIV was delivering to its 48 players. And on the other side of the ledger, there was probably a lot of negative vibes going on as well. So Jon and his wife, Kelley, who I met a few months ago, I sat down with them in Arizona. I talked to them through the whole process, of what LIV represented and where we want to take it and how we’re going to do that. They were just face-to-face interactions in which they understood, firstly, what the business model was. Secondly, that they had a partner in life for a long period of time to build on that team value - obviously Jon is captain of the team. And, thirdly, the value of what the camaraderie and the spirit that takes places in each and every one of these events is about. So it wasn’t us convincing him, I think he had already made up his mind.

Jon has already talked about possible changes, such as moving to 72 holes. What modifications can be expected?

We are always talking about how to innovate, that’s what we are. Our production is innovation every week, not just every year. We do something new every week. So innovation is something that we discuss openly, internally. We want to improve whatever product we have out there, that’s our goal. And obviously other things are discussed too, like moving to 72 holes. We look into the future, whether we execute on them or not, time will tell.

There are two weeks left for PIF and PGA Tour to reach an agreement. What do you know about those negotiations?

Well, I’m not involved in that agreement at all, that’s a separate deal. LIV is a stand-alone league and entity. The investment dollars that came into us obviously are looking into investment somewhere else because they see golf as an asset class right now, which I think is so important and probably something that people are focusing in on enough. The fact that the they have invested so much in the LIV, they’re looking at the dollars invested in the PGA Tour which is fantastic for the players, for the stakeholders and for the game of golf. It shows you the true value that this sport has, but that it basically hasn’t monetized in the last 53 years. And LIV has been the one to put an end to that completely, so I’m proud of the fact that we’ve done that.

What is the future of LIV and PGA? Maybe a combined tour?

I have no idea. I’m not involved in the negotiations and I have no idea where those negotiations are taking place. I don’t really care about them to be honest with you, and I mean that in that I care about building the game of golf at LIV, on the LIV platform. I do hope it works for them, I hope it works for all the investors, for all of the agents who are investing long-term in the PGA Tour. That will make the PGA Tour better. Remember, right from the beginning, LIV wanted to invest in the PGA Tour, LIV wanted to invest in the DP World Tour, LIV wanted to invest across the platforms to grow the game of golf everywhere we could possibly go. And now, here we are sitting here two years later on, looking for investment dollars to come in, when they could have them two years ago.

You are leading the project to develop a golf course in Diriyah. Why there?

It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site - number one. There is a massive growth corridor taking place here in Riyadh, the population of Riyadh is going to go from 8 million to 15 million by 2030, which is an incredible growth when you think about it. And golf is part of that - it’s part of that component of it. The site is, like I said, a UNESCO site, it’s incredible, and golf is an amenity that is needed to think about the quality of the hotels that are coming in here - from the Oberoi to the Six Senses, to the Aman and many many others. We had to deliver something special. And that is the Wadi Safar golf course that we are building here behind us. It’s not an easy task, there is a massive development project here. But to fit the golf course into this wadi is unique in its own right and we have a lot of responsibilities that we’ve taken on our shoulders but I’m very proud to say that we’ve done an excellent job with it.