Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods attended the inaugural match of the Tomorrow’s Golf League (Image: Getty)
Tiger Woods and extended an invitation to the man rumoured to be replacing Greg Norman at to the launch of their innovative new indoor golf league. When LIV first launched in 2022, Norman was at the forefront, causing a stir and creating a divide within professional golf.
Despite LIV and the agreeing on a merger framework in June 2023, and McIlroy have continued their standoff with the Australian icon. The inaugural match of the Tomorrow’s Golf League, a groundbreaking project from their joint venture TMRW Sports, took place on Tuesday (January 7).
This revolutionary league combines virtual reality technology with traditional golf in an indoor setting, marking a significant leap for the sport. An invitation to this event was even extended to a LIV Golf executive.
As reported by the Sports Business Journal, Scott O’Neil, who is speculated to be taking over from Norman as LIV’s head honcho, was spotted at the TGL’s launch at the SoFi Center without Norman. Rumours also suggest that Norman, now 69, will be moved to a new role by the chiefs at Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, reports .
Woods turned down an eye-watering offer estimated to be close to £648m ($800m) from LIV Golf in 2022, choosing loyalty over lucrative deals by remaining with the PGA Tour. In a fervent statement during the peak of the turmoil between the competing golf organisations that December, Woods cast doubt about any potential collaboration while Norman held the reins at LIV.
Woods said: “Not right now, not with their leadership, not with Greg there and his animosity towards the tour itself. I don’t see that happening. As Rory said, I think Greg’s got to leave, and then we can eventually, hopefully, have a stay between the two lawsuits and figure something out. But why would you change anything if you’ve got a lawsuit against you?
Greg Norman has been LIV Golf CEO since 2022 (Image: David Cannon/Getty Images)
“They sued us first. I see that there’s an opportunity out there if both organisations put a stay on their litigation but that’s the problem, they’ve got to put a stay on it. I think it has to start with leadership on their side.”
Besides Woods’ active participation in the Player Advisory Council (PAC) monitoring the tentative PGA-LIV merger, fellow golfer McIlroy is also reportedly holding chats with PIF heads. Previously mentioning that Norman should gracefully bow out or “exit stage left”, McIlroy now suggests that ejecting Norman could untangle the knotty threads of negotiation.
Last year, he said: “I think I’ve said this before, I have spent time with [PIF chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan] and the people that have represented him in LIV I think have done him a disservice, so [Greg] Norman and those guys.
“I actually think there’s a really big disconnect between PIF and LIV. I think you got PIF over here and LIV are sort of over here doing their own thing. So the closer that we can get to Yasir, PIF and hopefully finalise that investment, I think that will be a really good thing.”
The launch of TGL, which was delayed by a year, finally took flight at Tuesday’s event where The Bay Golf Club secured a commanding 9-2 victory over New York Golf Club. The novel golf league, TGL, features a structure of six teams, each composed of four players, and decides matches over 15 holes with both triples and singles formats.
Scheduled for weekday play to maximise spectator enjoyment, the next showdown in this innovative format is eagerly anticipated on January 15.