Greg Norman says he is to be replaced as the chief executive of LIV Golf. The 69-year-old Australian has been CEO of the Saudi Arabia-funded breakaway circuit since October 2021, before the league’s first official season the following year.

Norman, the former world No 1 and two-time Open champion, has often been seen as a divisive figure in golf’s civil war between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf.

Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy, a staunch supporter of the established tours, said in November 2022 that Norman should quit to allow the “adults” to negotiate a peace settlement between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf.

Norman, speaking in an interview in the US with the Indiana news TV station WISH-TV, said: “I’ve seen [LIV] come from a business model on paper to giving birth on the golf course to where it is today. Is there going to be a new CEO? Yes. There will be a new CEO. I’m fine with that.

“Will I always have a place and be involved with LIV to some capacity? Yes. I’ll always have that. Because the impact that has been created in the game of golf by LIV, I’ve had a small, small piece of that, which I’m proud of.”

The PGA Tour, the DP World Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund have been attempting to negotiate a deal since announcing a shock framework agreement in June 2023.

Tiger Woods, a PGA Tour policy board member, expressed his frustration over talks this week, saying: “I think all of us who have been a part of this process would have thought it would have happened quicker than this. But we wish we would have had something more concrete and further along than we are right now. I think something will get done. In what form or shape, I don’t know yet.”