Greg Norman says he used a hands-off approach to lure Cameron Smith to LIV Golf, saying his fellow Australian made his own decision in becoming “the best thing that happened” to the Saudi-backed new golf tour.
As the LIV Golf League heads Down Under to Adelaide, Smith will be the star attraction, and Noman has been speaking about how he managed to pull off his signing.
The likes of Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson were frontrunners in signing for LIV, but capturing Smith was a huge boost for Norman’s new enterprise when he joined in 2022.
Fresh off staring down Rory McIlroy to win the 150th Open Championship at St Andrews, Smith had risen to number two in the world and his stock could hardly have been higher.
So, capturing the 29-year-old Queenslander at that moment in time was massive for LIV Golf, but Norman insists he never gave him the hard sell – instead just presenting him with the opportunity and leaving him to make his own choice.
“I have a lot of respect for all these guys making the decision they made,” said Norman, per news.com.au. “They made the decision on the presentation that we gave them, the offer we gave them, you respect them for doing that.
“I respect anybody for making the decision when they know the facts.
“When I started talking to Cam, I didn’t want to push it. These guys have got to find their own way, knowing what is out there. To get from the offer, to signing it, to get to that point, you’ve got to go through a lot.
“It’s no different to when I signed on as CEO. So when I did the presentation to Cam I sat back and let it go and I didn’t I push it at all.
“We had a couple of conversations. And then when the time came, he was ready. He found the way he found the way down that path of the journey he wanted to do.
“When he came on board. It was like “oh my gosh”, the best thing that happened to us to be honest with you.”
Of course, the reported $140m offered to Smith may have been somewhat of a deciding factor, but the huge wealth available has never been something Norman has shied away from.
“Generational wealth is there to be had,” Norman said. “We are giving them the opportunity to look into the future instead of month by month, year by year, on the PGA Tour and where they see my schedule is like ‘I‘m going to play this, 23 or 24 tournaments, oh, that same old grind again’.
“Now these captains like Cam are working out how to maximise their value through generational wealth. We see it there.
“I was in Miami at a conference two days ago there was one guy very bullish on buying one of the teams. He said I want to buy one of your teams, I said not for sale, call me in two years.
“That’s where you go. Oh my gosh, these are so lucky to have that future laying out in front of them.”
