LIV Golf´s Chief Operating Officer Atul Khosla leaves tour ahead of the second season
LIV Golf’s Chief Operating Officer Atul Khosla has resigned from his post.
As per a report in The New York Times, Khosla has cut his ties with the Saudi-backed league circuit. Khosla´s resignation comes as a big set back for the league.
In January, Atul Khosla left the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from the post of Chief Corporate Development and Brand Officer to join LIV.
Although LIV's CEO, Greg Norman, is the face and voice of LIV Golf, Khosla is believed to be the one who was behind all its operations. After his appointment, Khosla had said in a statement:
“I look forward to being a part of the LIV Golf Investments team to help bring this vision to life and transform the game into an international sport.”
Norman had said this on Khosla´s appointment:
"His [Atul Khosla´s] appointment is yet another example of our dedication to bringing best-in-class talent to help us deliver our mission of growing the game of golf.”
In his statement, Norman said that LIV respected Khosla's decision:
"At the conclusion of LIV’s successful inaugural season, Atul Khosla decided to move on. We respect A.K. and his personal decision."
LIV Golf 2022 Season
A lot of established PGA Tour stars broke away to join LIV Golf. Some big names include Phil Mickelson, Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson, and Cameron Smith. Smith signed for LIV just weeks after winning the 2022 Open Championship.
LIV Golf players have been suspended from the PGA Tour, and LIV Golf is trying to get OWGR as their events have been barred from any ranking points.
LIV continues to lure more players. Jason Day was recently asked if he intends to join the Saudi-based circuit, to which he replied that he was not joining as for now but there are open possibilities in the future.
The first season of LIV Golf was held in 2022. There were eight tournaments, each with 54 holes. The first seven were individual events, and the concluding event was a team event.
Charles Schwartzel, Branden Grace, Henrik Stenson, Dustin Johnson, Cameron Smith, Eugenio Chacarra, and Brooks Koepka won seven different individual invitational events. 4 Aces GC (Talor Gooch, Dustin Johnson, Pat Perez, and Patrick Reed) won the concluding team event.
Dustin Johnson leads the money list with an amount of $35,637,767 followed by Brandon Grace.
Top PGA Tour stars Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy have said in the past that the only way for the LIV and PGA to negotiate is Norman's resignation from the Dubai-based circuit.
World No. 1 McIlroy had said that he would continue to be a "pain in Norman's a**e." Norman, in his reply, had said that he paid zero attention to what Woods and McIlroy had to say as they had their own agenda.
Recently there were reports claiming that LIV was planning to remove Norman and appoint a more experienced executive to run the circuit, as it is planning to host the 14-event LIV League next year. However, Majed Al-Sorour, Golf Saudi's Chief Executive, denied those reports.