Greg Norman has confirmed his $3 billion Saudi-backed rebel golf league will announce details of its first tournaments within 24 hours.
In a letter to players, made public by SI.com, Norman has vowed to push on in the face of criticism over the source of the money behind the tour, and despite many of the game’s leading players having pledged their loyalty to the PGA Tour.
Last month Rory McIlroy declared the concept “dead in the water” as a host of names lined up to denounce the tour.
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Jon Rahm and Collin Morikawa, the top two ranked players in the world, have already made it clear they’re not interested, while even Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau found some rare common ground in committing to the PGA Tour, along with Tiger Woods, Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas.
But Norman says he won’t be deterred.
“We consider ourselves a start-up,” he wrote.
“We may start with a modest number of players, but we won’t stay that way for long. I fully understand some players may choose not to play with us right away. But after we get going, I believe many of those who aren’t with us now will be with us later.
“I want to thank you for your patience, but know, it will be worth your while.”
The Super Golf League is rumoured to be made up of 14 events, each featuring a 48-player field and purse of $27 million. Each tournament would be three rounds instead of the traditional four, with no cut.
Norman reiterated that the proposed tour wants to complement the game’s biggest tournaments, not replace them.
“Our schedule’s always been designed in deference to the majors and heritage championships,” he said.
“LIV Golf has been consistent in its desire to complement the annual tour schedules and wider golf ecosystem. From the beginning, we designed this so players have the choice to play any tour, and in LIV Golf events, and actively encourage you to do so. We will not ask you to choose one or the other. This is in addition to, not in place of, your current Tour schedule.’
“You should know that we are launching, and we will continue to drive this vision forward. We will not stop. We believe in our mission and will announce information about our first events tomorrow.”
A week ago the boss of the PGA Tour, Jay Monahan, appeared to dismiss the threat posed by the rebel tour.
“We have too much momentum and too much to accomplish to be consistently distracted by rumours of other golf leagues and their attempts to disrupt our players, our partners and most importantly our fans from enjoying the tour and the game we all love so much,” he said.
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