Greg Norman, the Asian Tour and the fusion

• golf

The news of the day was the end of the "civil war" of professional golf and the merger of the Tours. The absence of a statement on the matter by a subject who was undoubtedly the main protagonist of this story, Greg Norman, will not have escaped notice.

The official position regarding the LIV Golf CEO is that he was privy to the deal only moments before the announcement. Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the Governor of the PIF, the Saudi Sovereign Wealth Fund, said: “I called him before the interview (the announcement was made on CNBC, where Al-Rumayyan and Jay Monahan, Commissioner of the PGA Tour, NDR appeared); he, of course, is our partner” “All of our shareholders also received the same phone call shortly before this interview”.

Many have read this choice as the decision by the PIF to sideline Norman. I propose a different interpretation.

Greg Norman, statements

Greg Norman spent two years on the front line, bordering on media overexposure, often attracting the dislikes of players, insiders and fans.

The fact that I didn't let him participate in the interview was, in my opinion, a strategic decision to lower the tension that would inevitably arise following the announcement. The Australian's tweet arrived yesterday in support of this hypothesis The LIV CEO was not the only one to express his satisfaction with the merger.

The Commissioner of the Asian Tour, Cho Minn Thant, also released a statement expressing full support for the agreement. “The Asian Tour hailed and welcomed yesterday's news regarding the milestone announcement of the agreement between the PIF (sponsor of LIV Golf), the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour” “This is a major step forward for the game of golf and a great achievement for all involved: fans, brands, broadcasters, Tours and their members” “This hugely significant development corroborates our well-researched decision to partner with Golf Saudi and LIV Golf to raise the profile of the Asian Tour in our sport” “We have always had faith that a solution would be found, and we are delighted that it has arrived so soon, following a period of great turbulence for the golf world” “The Asian Tour looks forward to contributing to the ongoing dialogue and doing its part to help create a model and structure for Tours to work together so that we can all enjoy what is to come. , arguably the most exciting period ever for professional golf”.