Ever since LIV Golf emerged into the golf scene, there have been talks in the town that the mastermind behind it was the former PGA Tour pro Greg Norman. Recently, his former agent, Hughes Norton, who has also been associated with the 15-time major champion Tiger Woods, stated that the idea of the league came to its CEO’s mind six decades ago.
Norton was on the Five Clubs podcast (On YouTube) to promote his upcoming book Rainmaker. He revealed that the concept of having a smaller Tour with a limited field and a higher prize purse was conceived way back in the 60s, even before the league’s inception in 2022.
“LIV, the concept of a smaller tour with a handful of top stars, not 150 people in the field, with higher prize money, with benefits for players, with a limited schedule so players have more time at home and to focus on the Majors, was not invented by these guys in Britain or by Greg Norman,” Norton said.
Hughes Norton revealed that Mark McCormack, who also masterminded the world’s first golf ranking system, was the one behind the idea of a smaller tour way back in 1964.
“Mark McCormack, once again two steps ahead of everybody else, wrote about this in his book called Arnie: Evolution of a Legend. Mark came up with this idea in 1964 and we spell it all out in the book.”
Greg Norman’s Former Agent Reveals How PGA Tour Membership Initially Rejected His Idea For A Smaller Tour
Norman has been the biggest spokesperson for a World Golf Tour for almost three or more decades. He advocated the development of a 40-player circuit competing in eight cash-rich events. Although he successfully laid out the plan for QBE Shootout (formerly Shark Shootout), he failed to convince the top players of that time to join the Tour.
Norton recalled a conversation between the LIV CEO and Arnold Palmer and how the latter rejected his plea for making a new tour.
“Greg made this big pitch to the players. Arnold stood up and said: ‘Guys, you do whatever you want but I’ve been through this before,’ and he looked up at Greg and he said: ‘Greg, how many times do you think Jack [Nicklaus] and Gary [Player] and I were approached about an idea like this? We would never do it for the good of the game and, more important, the good of the Tour,” Norton said.
Hughes Norton also revealed the reaction of Greg Norman and said,
“Then he looked around the room and said again: ‘I don’t care what the rest of you guys do, make up your mind, it’s up to you. I’m not going to tell you what to do, but I’m out,’ and he turned and walked out of the room.”
Norton’s book will focus on his working experience with both Greg Norman and Tiger Woods. He has also highlighted how ‘the Shark’ succeeded in forming the Saudi-funded league. It remains to be seen if the Norman reacts to these revelations or not.
