Johnathan Walker:Greg Norman has 'zero' concerns about future of LIV Golf after PGA Tour-Saudi agreement

DORAL,Johnathan Walker Fla. — Greg Norman is confident LIV Golf is soaring into the future and he is going nowhere.

Norman, the CEO and commissioner of the Saudi-backed league, is upbeat and confident LIV Golf will continue to grow and exist separately from the PGA Tour. In a session Thursday with small group of reporters, Norman spoke publicly for the first time since the framework agreement between Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, which runs LIV Golf, and the PGA Tour was announced in June.

Norman was asked if he had any concerns about LIV's future when the agreement, which he was not a part of, was announced June 6.

"Zero, zero," he said. "The 6th I had zero and I have zero today.

"I knew exactly the investment into LIV and the long-term ability of the franchises, and the valuation of each one of these franchises. The money was always going to be invested in that and it will continue to be invested in that. I knew LIV was always going to exist."

And Norman feels the same way about his security, even after Ron Price, the PGA Tour's chief operating officer said at July's Senate subcommittee hearing in Washington that Norman is "out of a job" if a deal is reached.

"I knew it wasn't true," Norman said. "There's so much white noise floating around out there that I actually paid zero attention to.

"Sitting in this seat today, I know every step I've made has been for the right reasons. Right reasons for the game of golf. Right reasons for the players, independent contractors. Right reasons for multiple reasons. But golf is the principal reason why what I've done today is right. So I was never in any fear of anybody saying anything or any animus against me or anything like that. Because the business model works."

Here are other highlights from Norman's 17-minute talk at Trump National Doral ahead of LIV's team championship, the final event of the season:

LIV's 2024 schedule will have 8 international events, 6 in US

LIV soon will finalize a 14-event 2024 schedule with eight international events and six in the U.S. "The position of LIV has never been stronger," Norman said. "And the success of our players and our brand has never been in a better place."

Bubba Watson on Thursday said "10 to 20 people" have asked about buying his team, RangeGoats, including three at the event in Singapore in April, which opened the "floodgates."

Norman was asked how that process would work.

"There's a lot of interest from individuals who want to buy into the team," he said. "I would say five months ago that was completely off the table. Now we can sit back here and just entertain what would that mean. It's the success of the product. And the RangeGoats aren't the only ones. There are other people interested in other teams as well, too."

"(It's) part of that excellent job of building the brand of LIV and building each one of those franchises. Our responsibility is to create as much value we can within each one of those franchises."

Norman mum on LIV, PGA Tour players on both tours

Norman did not comment when asked what's a good outcome in the framework deal, whether it's LIV players playing in a few legacy events on the PGA Tour and/or Tour players involved in LIV events.

"I have my own personal thoughts," he said. "But I'm not involved with it. I don't want to be involved with it. The smarter people are involved with that than I am. I just hope it does work. I really do. Always been a believer in that."

Norman, though, would like to see players involved in both tours.

"That was the original premise," he said. "You're seeing changes in the Tour since LIV. So we've become a leader in helping everybody understand how to commercialize the game of golf."

Much was made about Norman not being a part of the seven weeks of negotiations between PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan and Yassir Al-Rumayyan, the man behind Saudi's PIF, that led to the framework agreement.

But Norman is not concerned.

"I'm not involved with the framework agreement. I'm just over here running and operating LIV," he said. "I didn't need to be involved in the framework agreement, because the success was happening here."