In yet another clue that the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and Saudi investors might be inching closer toward a long-anticipated deal, LIV Golf reportedly is looking to replace Greg Norman as its CEO.
Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, which underwrites LIV Golf, has contracted with a London-based search firm to find a chief executive, according to Sports Business Journal’s Josh Carpenter, who cited unnamed “sources briefed on the matter.” The future for Norman, the two-time Open Championship winner from Australia and public face of the rival tour, was not certain, though he likely will remain with LIV in a senior role.
As an outspoken antagonist of golf’s establishment, Norman has been regarded as a potential obstacle for any deal that might bring Saudi investment to the PGA Tour and Europe’s DP World Tour.
In a report for Golf Channel, Rex Hoggard points to LIV Golf’s recent expansion of its front-office staff as a logical step in building “whatever is next for LIV Golf.”
Earlier this month, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan and PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan competed together at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship. READ MORE
It’s one thing for the PGA of America to price a ticket to the Ryder Cup at $750, a moral/economic quandary that Global Golf Post’s Ron Green Jr. captures so well near the front of this magazine.
But $350 to volunteer during the 2025 matches at Bethpage Black on New York’s Long Island?
That’s the price for working without pay for the week, according to Golf.com’s James Colgan, who cited multiple volunteers who spoke on the condition of anonymity. With tax and a credit-card processing fee, the total comes to $392. In return, volunteers receive a uniform, tournament credential, drawstring bag, commemorative pin and food … but only during scheduled shifts.
The fee is more than double what the PGA of America charged volunteers at the 2019 PGA at Bethpage Black and $80 more than next year’s PGA Championship at Quail Hollow, according to the report. It’s also $100 more than volunteers paid to work at the U.S. Open. READ MORE
Justin Casterline, Getty Images
Michael “M.J.” Maguire outlasted fellow American John Catlin on Sunday to win the Asian Tour’s Black Mountain Championship for his first professional title.
Maguire made par on the second playoff hole at Black Mountain Golf Club in Hua Hin, Thailand, to deny Catlin, the tour’s Order of Merit and International Series leader, a third victory of the season. They had tied at 23-under-par 265.
“Big weight off my shoulders,” said Maguire, a native of St. Petersburg, Florida, who played college golf at North Florida and celebrated his 32nd birthday on Saturday. “Played on every tour you can think of, and finally to get a win on a big, big tour like this is huge.”
Maguire, who entered the week at No. 861 in the Official World Golf Ranking, earned $360,000 from the $2 million purse. His younger brother, Jack, competes on the Korn Ferry Tour. READ MORE
The Philippine Open, which has not been played in six years, will return to the Asian Tour schedule for the first time since 2015. The tournament, to be played January 23-26 at Manila Southwoods Golf and Country Club, will open the Asian Tour’s 2025 season. READ MORE
Hannah Green completed a wire-to-wire victory Sunday at the BMW Ladies Championship in Paju, South Korea, becoming the third Australian to win three times in an LPGA season.
Green closed with a 1-under 71 at Seowon Valley Country Club for a 19-under 269 total to edge France’s Céline Boutier, who had birdied five of her last seven holes, by one stroke. In posting her sixth career victory, the 27-year-old Green earned $330,000 from the $2.2 million prize fund. She said she was “super proud of myself for hanging in there.” The event featured 17 of the 18 LPGA winners this year.
Green joined Karrie Webb and Jan Stephenson, both members of the World Golf Hall of Fame, as the only Australians to win three times in a season on the LPGA. Only six-time champion Nelly Korda has won more often than Green on the LPGA this year. Lydia Ko also has won three times plus the gold medal at the Paris Olympics. READ MORE
American Nelly Korda withdrew from last week’s LPGA tournament in South Korea and this week’s stop in Malaysia, citing a “minor neck injury” while practicing. Korda, 26, the No. 1-ranked female golfer in the world, has experienced a dramatic year. In addition to six victories, including a stretch of five in a row, she also missed time earlier this year because of a dog bite. She is not expected to compete again until the Annika driven by Gainbridge on November 14-17 in Belleair, Florida, before the LPGA’s season-ending CME Group Tour Championship one week later in Naples. READ MORE
TAP-INS
China’s Wenyi Ding, who dropped out of Arizona State after one season of college golf to pursue an exemption on the DP World Tour, has met his immediate goal. Ding earned the 2025 tour card that goes to the No. 1 non-collegiate amateur on the inaugural Global Amateur Pathway Ranking. Ding, who will turn 20 next month, won the recent Asia-Pacific Amateur in early October. However, because he made his professional debut last week at the developmental Challenge Tour’s Hangzhou Open in China, he gave up the Masters and Open Championship exemptions that were awarded to the Asia-Pacific winner. READ MORE
The season-opening Korn Ferry Tour events in consecutive weeks in the Bahamas in January will be televised by Golf Channel as part of a three-year contract extension that the PGA Tour announced with Bahamas Tourism. READ MORE
Compiled by Steve Harmon