Greg Norman continues to get asked about his affiliation with Saudi Arabia, and he continues to provide lightning-rod answers.
Norman, speaking to media about Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post journalist who was brutally murdered in 2018 in the Saudi Embassy in Istanbul, Turkey, said, “We’ve all made mistakes.”
“Everybody has owned up to it, right? It has been spoken about, from what I’ve read, going on what you guys reported,” Norman said, according to TMZ.
“Take ownership, no matter what it is. Look, we’ve all made mistakes and you just want to learn from those mistakes and how you can correct them going forward.”
Norman, 67, is the CEO of LIV Golf, the upstart series backed by the Saudi government that is seeking to compete with the PGA Tour by promising golfers more money — and guaranteed appearance fees — for fewer appearances.
This week, the PGA Tour denied waivers for golfers who wanted to compete in the first tournament in the LIV Invitational Golf Series, scheduled to be played outside of London next month.
“This whole thing about Saudi Arabia and Khashoggi and human rights, talk about it, but also talk about the good the country is doing to change its culture,” Norman continued Wednesday.
“There’s not many countries that can stand up and be proud of that. They can’t be proud of their past — there’s a lot of countries in this world that have a cross to bear too — but they are looking after the younger generation.”
Over the past several months, Norman has been accused of “sportswashing” — the act of using sports to launder the reputations of despots, and he has been defensive about it.
“No, I have not been used for sportswashing because I’ve been to Saudi Arabia, and I’ve seen the changes that have taken place,” Norman told the Financial Times last year.
“Every country has done horrendous things in the past … just look at America with racism, for example, it’s just so embedded here, it’s just ugly,” he said.
