GOLF LEGEND Tiger Woods believes that LIV CEO Greg Norman has to step from his role, weeks after Rory Mcllroy made similar claims.
Golf's civil war between the PGA Tour, The DP World Tour, and the new Saudi backed format LIV Golf has rumbled on all year, with players from both sides taking swipes at each other.
Current world number Rory Mcllroy has become the de facto spokesperson for the traditional tours. The Holywood native has made it well known his feelings on Norman.
Mcllroy asked for a compromise to be reached last month, but felt it could not be done without the resignation of the Australian.
“Greg needs to go,” McIlroy told reporters at the DP World Tour’s season-ending event in Dubai last November. “He 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 ground. No one’s going to talk unless there’s an adult in the room that can actually try to mend fences.”
Woods has now echoed the Northern Irishman's sentiments by essentially saying the same thing.
Tiger Woods was asked what needs to happen for an amicable relationship between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf.
"Greg [Norman] has to go, first of all."pic.twitter.com/lEU5ZvsBcb— Front Office Sports (@FOS) November 29, 2022
Speaking at a press conference ahead of the Hero World Challenge yesterday, Woods said: “There is an opportunity out there if both organisations put a stay on their litigation. That’s the problem.
“There is no willingness to negotiate if you have litigation against you. I think Greg has to go first of all.
“It has to start with leadership on their side, understanding that what is happening right now is not the best future for the whole game of golf.
“You need to have the two bodies come together and if one side has so much animosity, trying to destroy our tour, then how do you work with that?
“There is a window of opportunity for us from both tours to figure this out but I think that window’s closing just because the majors are coming up now and they’re going to have their own criteria, but again that goes back to LIV and their lawsuit.
“They’re suing us first and we counter-sued them. They have to back off the table, then we’ll back off the table and then we have a place to talk, but their leadership has to change as well.
“If that doesn’t then I think it’s going to continue going down the path that it’s going right now.”
The Hero World Challenge is a golf tournament which takes place this week. It features a small number of top-ranked golf pros. The tournament is a benefit for the Tiger Woods Foundation.
