LIV Golf Has 'No Interest In Sitting Down With' The PGA Tour

With battle lines drawn, any chance of the two tours working together harmoniously look dead in the water

Dustin Johnson won LIV Boston after a playoff against Anirban Lahiri and Joaquin Niemann
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Any remote hopes that LIV Golf could sit down with the PGA Tour and come up with an amicable way of working together look to have finally disappeared.

Speaking to The Australian newspaper, LIV chief Greg Norman rejected any accusation that LIV is trying to destroy other tours, claiming he has tried to sit down with the PGA Tour, but instead of breaking bread with the Saudi-backed upstart, the PGA Tour has tried to destroy LIV.

Norman told The Australian: “This notion we're trying to destroy tours is not true. The PGA Tour is trying to destroy us, it's as simple as that. The PGA Tour has not sat down and had a conversation with myself or any of my investors.

“We tried awfully hard, I know I did personally for the past year. When we knew we were never going to hear from them, we just decided to go. We have no interest in sitting down with them, to be honest with you, because our product is working."

The most recent LIV Golf event, in Boston earlier this month, was boosted by the closest finish so far, with the first ever LIV playoff, and the most high-profile winner, as former World No.1 Dustin Johnson prevailed at the extra hole over Anirban Lahiri and Joaquin Niemann. LIV Boston was also noticeable for the performances of the most recent signings, with debutants Lahiri and Niemann being joined by Cameron Smith in the top four in a blanket finish.

LIV’s players have been banned from taking part in PGA Tour events, and there is an ongoing court case in which the DP World Tour is hoping to follow suit. There had been hope in some quarters that the new series could exist in harmony with the current tours, but that no longer looks feasible.

Jeff Kimber
Freelance Staff Writer

Jeff graduated from Leeds University in Business Studies and Media in 1996 and did a post grad in journalism at Sheffield College in 1997. His first jobs were on Slam Dunk (basketball) and Football Monthly magazines, and he's worked for the Sunday Times, Press Association and ESPN. He has faced golfing greats Sam Torrance and Sergio Garcia, but on the poker felt rather than the golf course. Jeff's favourite course played is Sandy Lane in Barbados, which went far better than when he played Matfen Hall in Northumberland, where he crashed the buggy on the way to the 1st tee!