Norman must go first, says Tiger Woods on possible path to possible PGA and LIV discussion

The open war between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf has flared up to the point where it will be very difficult to cover these tracks at some point in the future. One way to bring the golf ecosystem back into a working symbiosis is for the two businesses to speak together. However, there is no indication yet that this will ever happen. Tiger Woods has also talked about a possible path.

LIV Golf, headed by Commissioner and CEO Greg Norman, has been trying to find common ground with the PGA from the beginning so that the two businesses can operate in some sort of balance. However, at present the whole situation is so escalated that the fate of the two golf businesses will be decided by litigation.

Tiger Woods also spoke at a recent press conference ahead of the 2022 Hero World Challenge. He was initially supposed to take part in this tournament, but then withdrew due to health issues.

The earliest we’ll likely see him is at the PNC Championship, which will take place December 17-18, 2022, where he’s expected to walk alongside his son Charlie again.

At the aforementioned press conference, Woods understandably did not avoid questions about the LIV. One of them was what would have to happen for the PGA and the LIV to find common ground.

“I think Greg Norman has to go first,³” Woods said Tuesday from Albany, Bahamas, whose words were quoted by GolfWeek. “And then, of course, the lawsuit against us has to be dropped and then subsequently our countersuit against them. Only then could we all speak freely with each other,” Woods thinks.

Greg Norman, he says, is in too much animosity with the PGA Tour for any joint discussions to take place. Likewise, he said he sees no reason for a joint debate when it was LIV Golf that filed the lawsuit against the PGA.

The LIV didn’t like the fact that players were permanently suspended from the PGA. While some players had voluntarily surrendered their cards on Tour, others would remain interested in playing golf at both events.

Woods called the actions of some LIV players in poor taste. Like him, Rory McIlroy, whom Tiger greatly appreciates for his fight against the LIV, also called for Norman’s resignation.

“WhatRory said and did is what leaders do. Rory is a true leader on Tour. The fact that he’s able to say certain things in public, and meanwhile win golf tournaments, is not easy.

People have no idea how hard it is to be able to separate those two things,” he praised his partner, with whom he recently formed a new company, TMRW Sports, which is set to take golf entertainment to the next level in the future.

At the same time, however, even McIlroy has previously said that the PGA’s discussions with the LIV are virtually the only way to save the splintering world golf, which is currently operating in a very tense atmosphere.

Phil Mickelson has also made it clear: “LIV Golf is here and it’s here to stay,” which has previously been questioned by the likes of PGA Tour commissioner Jany Monahan. The latter, incidentally, is one of the main opponents of the LIV, which has long and strictly rejected the common language.

Source: PGA Tour, LIV Golf, GolfWeek