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USA Today
10-05-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
Greg Norman tells harrowing tale of emergency landing after pop; says 'not my first rodeo'
Greg Norman tells harrowing tale of emergency landing after pop; says 'not my first rodeo' Greg Norman's last few years have been turbulent as he tried to help LIV Golf get off the ground. According to a social media post from this week, however, the two-time major champion had real turbulence that could have proved catastrophic. Norman told Australian Golf Digest he was flying from Los Angeles to Florida when the windscreen of his private jet shattered mid-flight. En route back to his Palm Beach home, pilots had to perform an emergency landing after a loud bang rocked the cabin. Here's more from this story: The next move, according to The Shark? 'F–king land!' Norman laughs. Of course, laughing about such situations is something the 70-year-old can do, for this isn't the first time he's had a scare up in the clouds. 'It's certainly not my first rodeo with events like this,' adds Norman. 'The last (mid-air emergency) I had was in my plane climbing at 30,000 feet and – BANG! – we dived to about 10,000 feet and slowed down,' he recalls. 'I've had more interesting things, as much as I've flown over the years – lightning strikes, cabin fires, breaking the ceiling barrier to see the curvature of the earth, losing hydraulics after taking off from an aircraft carrier…' Norman's tenure as the CEO of LIV Golf was a tumultuous one as the 20-time PGA Tour winner and former world No. 1 butted heads with numerous organizations, made outlandish claims about the league's ascension and even had him showing up at major events with tickets from a secondary market.
Irish Daily Mirror
06-05-2025
- Business
- Irish Daily Mirror
LIV Golf's top earner reckons Rory McIlroy Masters win should have 'asterisk'
Rory McIlroy's recent Masters win should have an asterisk attached to it, that is according to one of LIV Golf's highest earners. Talor Gooch says because of the fractured nature of golf, there will always be an asterisk on major wins. Gooch joined the breakaway LIV golf tour for an estimated $15 million in 2022 and he has since gone on to win a mind-boggling amount of money. Interviewed ahead of the 2024 Masters, Gooch told Australian Golf Digest: 'If Rory McIlroy goes and completes his (career) grand slam without some of the best players in the world, there's just going to be an asterisk. It's just the reality. I think everybody wins whenever the majors figure out a way to get the best players in the world there.' Gooch, who finished 14th in the 2022 Masters, has dropped down to 1517 in the Official Golf World Rankings since his departure from the PGA Tour with LIV events not recognised. McIlroy had his say on the matter and said he is giving Gooch 'the benefit of the doubt'. A host of LIV players such as Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, Phil Mickelson and Joaquín Niemann did play at Augusta this year, some as former champions, some as invitees. "Look, the Masters is an invitational and they'll invite whoever they think warrants an invite,' McIlroy told Golf Week. 'I think to be fair to Talor, if you read the entire – the question and then the answer, it's not as if he just came out with that. I feel like whoever did the interview led him down that path to say that, so I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt there a little bit. He just agreed with what the interviewer asked." The Saudi Arabia backed LIV golf snapped up Gooch and a number of the top players in the world at the time of its creation in 2022. European Ryder Cup stars Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton were key signings for the 2024 season, with the financial gains on offer too good to turn down for some players. After the conclusion of the third LIV Golf season recently, the National Club Golfer website measured the winnings of all players and it was US ace Gooch who came out on top. The Oklahoma golfer has played in 35 events through to the start of 2025, earning an incredible $56,435,280. In the same time, McIlroy has earned about $90million. Gooch is not in McIlroy's league in terms of ability, but financially he is up there with the top players in the world now in terms of earnings, thanks to LIV. The average PGA Tour player earns $1,125,584 per season. Gooch, 33, who has never has a top 10 finish in any major, has earned almost $20million per season. Tiger Woods is the highest earning golfer of all-time with around $120 million pocketed on the course, according to the PGA Tour. Get the latest sports headlines straight to your inbox by signing up for free email alerts.
