LIV Golf Chief Commercial Officer Resigns
LIV Golf’s Chief Commercial Officer Sean Bratches has resigned from the organisation according to the Sports Business Journal, with his departure coming just eight days after Greg Norman’s controversial comment on the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Norman said “we all make mistakes” on the subject of Khashoggi, prompting backlash from human rights organisation Amnesty International, which called Norman’s words “wrong and seriously misguided.”
LIV responded to the remarks with a statement to Golf Monthly reading: “The killing of Jamal Khashoggi was reprehensible. Everyone agrees about that, including Greg and he has said as such previously on many occasions. Greg also knows that golf is a force for good around the world and can help make inroads toward positive change. That is why he is so excited about LIV and that was the point he was making.”
There was then a report that Norman may have been on his way out of LIV Golf, although there has been no confirmation of that.
Sean Bratches was at the media day at the Centurion alongside Norman and other LIV Golf executives last Wednesday but now leaves the start-up ahead of its first tournament in three weeks’ time.
He had been at LIV Golf for six months, arriving following three decades at ESPN and then a four year spell at F1, and in that time he set up a strategy on sponsorships and media rights. He also is said to have hired legendary broadcaster David Hill to take charge of production.
Bratches was “considered the most respected business executive in the organization” according to the Sports Business Journal.
The LIV Golf invitational Series gets underway next month with its first $25m event at the Centurion Club in England before six more tournaments in the US, Thailand and Saudi Arabia, culminating in the eighth and final tournament – the $50m Team Championship – at Trump National Doral in Miami, Florida.
