Angry golf fans react as Greg Norman finally breaks silence after LIV exit, ‘always playing the victim’

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Greg Norman is no longer part of the LIV Golf setup after spending three years in a leadership role with the Saudi-backed golf league.

Norman was involved in numerous spats with players from the PGA Tour over the past few years due to his controversial involvement with the emergence of LIV Golf.

And Norman issued a lengthy statement after parting ways with LIV, sharing his gratitude and pride at being involved with the setup.

The two-time Open champion actually received a lot of praise during his time with LIV, with Phil Mickelson once sharing his ‘utmost respect’ for Norman.

However, those outside of LIV were never truly convinced by his motives.

After winning the Canadian Open in 2022, Rory McIlroy fired a potshot at Norman.

“I had extra motivation of what’s going on across the pond,“ said McIlroy.

“The guy that’s spearheading that tour has 20 wins on the PGA Tour and I was tied with him and I wanted to get one ahead of him. And I did.“

He added: “So that was really cool for me – just a little sense of pride on that one.

“This is a day I’ll remember for a long, long time.“

Norman is somewhat out of the firing line now, having officially left LIV Golf, and he has opened up on just how hard he worked to get the golf league off the ground.

However, golf fans are not happy with his comments whatsoever.

Angry golf fans react as Greg Norman breaks silence after LIV exit

When speaking to Australia’s edition of Golf Digest, Norman said his role with LIV was extremely demanding.

He said: “I enjoyed my time at LIV. But I’ll be honest with you, it was hard… It was very draining on me. I was working 100-hour weeks…. “what hurt me the most was the lack of understanding of why people would judge me and give the abuse they did….” “That was the thing that bothered me the most, because I’m the type of guy who will happily sit down and talk about things. And if I’m wrong, I’ll admit I’m wrong. But don’t judge me. Don’t judge what LIV was truly all about.”

However, golf fans have absolutely zero sympathy for him.

In response to Norman’s comments about his LIV exit, many golf fans criticized the Australian for his hypocrisy.

One simply said: “Greg made tens of millions of $ from LIV. IMO he overpaid all the players so he can also get paid big $. LIV lost $1B in 3.5 years. He says, ‘Don’t judge me’.“ While another was not impressed in the slightest, saying: “Awww people were meanies. Boo hoo. Good grief what a baby.“

This sentiment was supported by many more, with comments stating: “So Norman was the CEO of LIV and it lost $243.7 million in 2022, $395.9 million in 2023, and $461.8 million in 2024. Total loss of $1,104,400,000! Great job, Greg!“

And, “Spoken like a true narcissist…always playing the victim!“

While another exclaimed, “It must be hard to be a mercenary.“

Others were just as passionate with their responses.

“Ruined men’s professional golf forever,“ one said, while another added: “100 hour weeks? Lmfao doing what?! No wonder they got a new CEO.“

And the views continued: “A lifetime of victimhood, reaching a crescendo, paid for with blood money. Congrats Greg.“

It’s fair to say that golf fans are not happy with Norman’s attempts to play the victim.

How much money LIV Golf have lost during Greg Norman’s time at the helm

Scott O’Neil replaced Norman as the new CEO of LIV Golf in early 2025 and the Australian officially left the Saudi-backed setup last month.

It’s little wonder why LIV may have wanted a new man at the helm, given their financial records over the past three years.

According to The Financial Times, LIV Golf’s UK entity lost a quite incredible $461m in 2024.

Those losses were up from $395m in 2023 and $243m in 2022.

That totals more than $1 billion in losses since LIV was first formed in June 2022, and haemorrhaging money like that is clearly not sustainable, certainly not if it’s to be known as a reputable business.

Norman was CEO of LIV Golf during the years where the golf league made losses totalling more than a billion dollars.

So it’s easy to see why Scott O’Neil holds Norman’s position now. It will be very interesting to see what Norman has planned in the future.

He has become a highly controversial figure in the game over the past few years and given his personality, it would surprise nobody if he took on another contentious venture at some point in the near future.