Rory McIlroy calls LIV’s CEO swop ‘probably a good move’
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Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy plays a shot during the first day of the Dubai Desert Classic.
PHOTO: AFP
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DUBAI – The war of words between Greg Norman and Rory McIlroy is as good as done.
Although the ongoing negotiations between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf on their “framework agreement” have made little progress, there is less animosity between the sides in 2025 than there was when LIV first entered the golf scene. Now LIV is moving forward with sports executive Scott O’Neil as its new CEO, replacing Norman, who will remain with the Saudi-backed golf league in an ambiguous role.
McIlroy, one of LIV’s most outspoken critics in the early days, said it was “probably a good move” and heaped praise on O’Neil’s resume.
“(O’Neil) has an amazing track record with what he has done in sports, in terms of managing teams and groups of teams, ownership groups,” he said at the ongoing Dubai Desert Classic.
“He has got the right credentials to take over a sports league. I think for LIV, it is probably a good move now they are established.”
O’Neil has served as CEO of the parent company of the National Basketball Association’s Philadelphia 76ers and National Hockey League’s New Jersey Devils, president of Madison Square Garden and CEO of amusement park and resort company Merlin Entertainments Group.
He was officially confirmed as LIV’s new chief executive officer on Jan 15.
Norman, the 1986 and 1993 US Open champion, often came off as divisive when helping LIV get off the ground. He had said McIlroy was “brainwashed by the PGA Tour” in 2022, putting Norman in the four-time Major champion’s crosshairs.
McIlroy blamed him in part for golf’s “civil war”, saying later that year that he should “exit stage left” to allow the “adults” to patch up the sport’s schism.
The Northern Irishman spoke of Norman in a much more pacifying manner this week.
“Greg took a lot of flak the first couple of years,” McIlroy said.
“He is probably one of the only guys in golf who could have taken on that role. He got it off the ground, and you have to commend him for that. Now it’s time for someone with a bit more experience to take over.”
On Jan 16, LIV announced a multi-year media agreement with Fox Sports that begins in the 2025 season, its third term as a league after it came into being as an “invitational series” during the summer of 2022.
It will be the first time the league will be shown on mainstream sports television in the game’s biggest market. LIV has previously been broadcast on The CW, drawing small ratings on a channel not known for sports coverage. REUTERS, AFP
