Two years ago Rory McIlroy called for LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman to step down to allow the ‘adults’ in the room to hold peace talks to end the disruption at the top of the men’s game.
Now according to a report in the Sports Business Journal, the Saudi backed tour are looking for a replacement for Norman.
Two-time Open Championship winner Norman would be moved into a more ‘senior role’, according to the report.
The report claims that London-based recruitment firm Odgers Berndtson has been spearheading a search to replace the Australian for several months.
“Though handled quietly, the search firm has looked to well-regarded executives in sports business for the position, with names including Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark among those targeted early on, according to sources. Talks with Yormark did not progress, but it shows the level of executive PIF has been targeting,” the report outlined.
Back in February of 2022, McIlroy and Norman became embroiled in a war of words when McIlroy was the face of the resistance to LIV Golf for the PGA TOUR.
Norman previously claimed McIlroy was “a puppet” for the PGA TOUR and that he was being “brainwashed” by Jay Monahan and co.
“I think Greg needs to go,” McIlroy said two years ago. “I think he just needs to exit stage left.
“He’s made his mark but I think now is the right time to say you’ve got this thing off the ground but no one’s going to talk unless there’s an adult in the room that can actually try to mend fences.”
At the recent Alfred Dunhill Links Championship on the DP World Tour, McIlroy said it could be three years before a peace deal is struck in men’s professional golf despite the presence of Jay Monahan, Yassir Al Rumayyan and fourteen LIV Golf players that week in St Andrews, the Home of Golf.
“I think by year’s end we should know whether the PIF will invest in PGA Tour Enterprises, so we should know if the problem of where we currently find ourselves in golf right now will be solved”, he said.
“I would say by the end of the year we are going to know if that is a possibility. We know that all various Tour’s will keep truckin’ along and keep doing their thing for the foreseeable future.
“I think the best thing we could look for is a bit of cross-over between them and while that is happening, and over that period of time whether it be one year or two years, three years and that’s all we can do is to figure out the rest”.
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