One word that can define Golf in 2025 is “transition”. And I mean that in a more organizational sense rather than how the sport is being played. We have LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman leaving after 4 years of his reign. On the other side of the fence, the PGA Tour is phasing out its commissioner, Jay Monahan, at the end of his contract in 2026. As the two titans fade, Greg Norman is reminiscing about the past, now casting the split as a missed peace he says Monahan never let happen.
“Together, we built a movement that changed the game globally. We created opportunities for both players and fans and broadened the ecosystem of golf,” Norman wrote in his exit message. With the billions of the Saudi Arabian fund behind him, Norman was out to globalize the game from the ground up, and obviously, that involved friendly relations with the almost-100-year-old PGA. But as we have seen the drama unfold over the years, the PGA Tour, being led by Monahan, is more than content to go its separate ways, leading to immense friction. As Norman moves out, he reveals what could have been.
“I think he was responding to it in an emotional way, and that’s never good in business,” Norman said regarding the PGA’s rejected offer from 2020 to join hands for a World Golf Series. That’s kind of ironic coming from Norman, as his playing career is filled with emotional moments right from the 1984 US Open to the 1996 Masters. While he is a businessman now, Norman is not unfamiliar with emotion.
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“Had Jay taken our calls, I think the ecosystem of global golf would be more equitable today,” Norman said. “You would have had private venture capital coming into the game, as we now have, but it would have been distributed to more players.”
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From the very start, the clash between Norman and Monahan was evident. LIV Golf aimed to transform the sport into a more business-driven model, giving players greater equity. Monahan shared a similar vision of growth but focused on preserving the game’s traditions and legacy. “We welcome good, healthy competition. The LIV Saudi golf league is not that. It’s an irrational threat; one not concerned with the return on investment or true growth of the game,” Monahan said in 2022.
The rift exists in 2025 because when it comes to Monahan and Norman as individuals, their core belief systems differ. We came close to reunification in March with President Donald Trump intervening. But the Tour rejected the PIF’s $1.5B investment proposal because it reportedly required LIV to continue in its current form and would give Al‑Rumayyan a leadership role. However, with the leadership changing, will it change the situation between the two competitors?
Can new leaders bring LIV and the PGA Tour closer to unity?
Greg Norman has given way to Scott O’Neil as the CEO. Something that had already happened in January, but Norman’s contract with LIV stretched till August, when he formally moved out. For the PGA, Brian Rolapp is joining the tour as its new CEO after more than 2 decades in the NFL. Are there any early indications of the two leaders working towards a deal?
“You just have to constantly innovate,” Rolapp said in his introductory news conference at the TOUR Championship. “I think if there’s anything I learned at the NFL, it’s that … honoring tradition but not being bound by it. I think that level of innovation is what we’re going to do here.”
It seems Rolapp is a traditional guy with more flexibility than Monahan. The one glimmer of hope for some form of agreement in the future is that Rolapp and new LIV Golf CEO Scott O’Neil are longtime friends, but no statements from Rolapp have indicated any progress in that direction, at least in the near future.
When the negotiations were at their peak in January, O’Neil had simply said, “Do we have to do a deal? No. Is it nice to do a deal? So long as we’re all focused on the same thing, to grow the game of golf.”
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Well, LIV Golf had sent a revised petition in June to the OWGR in a bid to get recognized so that LIV players can be considered in the world rankings. The result of that is yet to be seen
So, even if the new leaders somehow come into the same room, organisational issues and format issues remain. LIV Golf has 54 players in each tournament. Many leading PGA Tour events have gone from fields that, by tradition, once had 120 or more players to no-cut tournaments with 70 or 80 players in the field. While it’s moving towards more change, a complete 180 towards the LIV format is unlikely. As always, everyone at the top of both organizations will want to stay there, and a merger will threaten their positions, making it more difficult.