Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Norman: LIV plans to buy up golf courses
GREG Norman has once again doubled down on LIV Golf’s future – regardless of whether or not a deal is struck between the PGA Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.
The man in charge of the PIF purse strings, Yasir Al-rumayyan, has held lengthy meetings with the likes of the PGA Tour commissioner and Tiger Woods, who heads up the US circuit’s players board, in recent months about what the future of golf looks like and how Golf Saudi can be involved in that.
That in turn has led to rumours that when a deal is eventually struck, the rug will be pulled from under Norman and his LIV players – who will find themselves somewhat welcomed back to the PGA Tour.
So when the Australian was asked about it during a Q&A with Bloomberg at last week’s LIV Golf event in Singapore, he was keen to detract from the question and focus instead on what Al-rumayyan has told him about what lies ahead of his league.
Having somewhat triumphantly declared that “the LIV Golf juggernaut is still rolling on”, he added: “I’m just going to answer as the CEO of LIV. My boss told me LIV is not going to go anywhere.
“It will be well and truly in operation well past his death – and he’s a young guy. He’s asked me to just stay focused and deliver LIV. LIV is a standalone entity.
“He’s invested billions of dollars into this and we’re starting to see an ROI (return of investment) within this.”
Norman’s next big plan is that LIV will buy up golf courses, with each team getting its own host venue.
“Man United owns their stadium. Indian Premier League, they own their stadiums,” he said.
“NFL, they own their stadiums. “Think about LIV owning all their own golf courses, each team having a home venue and they host.
“And now you can build out around that. It’s not just a golf course.
“You bring in education, you bring in hospitality, you bring in real estate, you bring in merchandise, you bring in management, you bring in all these other different opportunities that the game of golf has to deliver to a community, to a region. We are going to be doing that.”
■ Adrian Otaegui produced a brilliant final round of 65 to claim the weather-shortened Volvo China Open by one stroke.
The Spaniard began the day five shots behind the in-form Sebastian Soderberg, who had led from the outset of the 54-hole tournament after Saturday’s third round was cancelled due to thunder and lightning in the Shenzhen area.
Soderberg started the day with a three-shot lead but he was reeled in by Otaegui following his flawless display of seven birdies to set the clubhouse target at 18 under par.
The Swede was on the same score heading down the last but hooked his tee shot into the penalty area and despite reaching the par-four hole in three, he could not hole the monster par putt which would have extended the tournament.
Soderberg went on to three-putt for a double bogey and a levelpar 72, leaving him tied for third alongside England’s Paul Waring and Switzerland’s Joel Girrbach, with Guido Migliozzi in second place at 17 under thanks to a lengthy birdie on the final hole.
Top Scot was David Law who posted a final round 67 to finish on 10 under – eight shots behind Otaegui.
Richie Ramsay and Scott Jamieson were nine under after rounds of 67 and 68 respectively.
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