LIV Golf chief Greg Norman has been slammed by Olympic champion Kieran Perkins amid more criticism for the breakaway circuit.
A number of golf's biggest names have been lured by the Saudi-backed format, including Australian stars Marc Leishman and Cameron Smith, leading to a civil war with the PGA Tour and DP World Tours. Perkins, who won successive swimming gold medals in 1992 and 1996, is now CEO of the Australian Sports Commission and has become the latest to criticise his countryman Norman.
"Just stop and listen to the people around you, Greg, and think about some of the stuff that's being told to you," he told the National Press Club. "See if actually there's some value in it, instead of assuming you have all the answers."
"I understand and appreciate the need to disrupt sport and make it better, and the opportunity to create more competitive pathways that help athletes receive the benefit they deserve, [but] opening the door for more inclusion is incredibly important."
Norman has come under scrutiny for the LIV Golf format and sparked outrage further when he defended Saudi Arabia's human rights laws as people 'making mistakes'.
Former world No.1 Rory McIlroy has been one of the most vocal critics but Norman has continued to hold firm and recently publicly called out the Northern Irishman.
"Remember, Rory started on the European tour. Then Rory decided to leave the European tour to go play where all the money is, where I went to play, to the PGA Tour," he told Piers Morgan's Uncensored show.
“Don’t begrudge the other players for making a decision, that is a rightful decision under their independent contractual rights, to go and do it. It’s just a shame that people have taken this stance, when you look back over a period of time, they’ve pretty much done the same thing themselves."
