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Along with an ability to drive a golf ball better than anyone with a persimmon club, Greg Norman had a keen awareness of his own worth as a golfer, especially as it applied to securing fees for his participation.

Norman makes no secret of this. The Australian golfer who earned the nickname the “Great White Shark” and suffered heartbreak along with an abundance of success throughout a Hall of Fame career knew that the best golf in the world was being played on the PGA Tour in the United States.

But he also saw opportunity beyond the tour’s borders, and always wanted to explore them. Starting in 1984, when he played his first full season on the PGA Tour and won his first tournament at the Kemper Open, he always wondered why his ability to play around the world came with stipulations.

As a member of the PGA Tour, he had rules to adhere to and permissions to obtain. And to this day … it bugs him.

“It still frustrated me to death why, as an independent contractor, I couldn’t get out there and expand on my true market value that I truly believe I had,” Norman said. “Same with all the other players.”

And here we are.

Nearly 30 years after Norman first attempted to start a rival tour that would bring the best players together at venues around the world for guaranteed money and lucrative purses, he is now the commissioner of an upstart league that has yet to be publicly named but is busy behind the scenes working to secure people in leadership roles and several players — who, if signed — would give the venture credibility.

Having been anointed the CEO of this new venture called LIV Golf Investments, Norman unveiled a limited amount of plans last week.

How this plays out over the following weeks and months will be fascinating to follow, but Norman’s role is instructive. He — along with the late Seve Ballesteros — battled the PGA Tour’s hierarchy in the early 1980s. Norman sought — with the help of Fox Sports — to launch a World Tour in 1994 that was eventually thwarted by then-PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem.

Now he’s back for another try, but with many of the same questions still to be answered.

“I always wanted to understand why we were stuck in a box,” said Norman, 66, the winner of 20 PGA Tour events and 88 worldwide who was ranked No. 1 in the world for 331 weeks. “In [1993-94], I thought of this idea of how do we get the best players to play against each other on more of a regular basis and give them an annuity into the future.

“I always thought if I could do something for my fellow players and carry the burden of responsibility … I just thought there was a better way, why I thought of this World Golf Tour, where they could have ownership. That’s thinking out of the box. That’s thinking like an independent contractor. Like an entrepreneur. Understanding the marketplace.”

This is not a purely altruistic endeavor for Norman. He is not designating his business interests in the Greg Norman Company to be handled by someone else simply for the good of his fellow players.

Norman will be paid handsomely for his time, popularity and expertise. And with the backing of the Public Investment Fund — the sovereign wealth fund of the Saudi Arabian government — there is a seemingly endless supply of money to take care of him and all the needs of the new league, along with the scrutiny he will face at every turn for being associated with the Saudi government.

The term “independent contractor” is likely to be one that gets a lot of attention as this situation moves forward. PGA Tour players are independent contractors, but with enormous benefits: a pension plan, health care benefits, weekly perks for being members of the tour.

The FedEx Cup bonus money is paid out to 150 places. Purses continue to go up. Jon Rahm led the money list last season with more than $7 million in official earnings. Patrick Cantlay was second and earned another $15 million for capturing the FedEx Cup. There were 67 players who earned more than $2 million in official earnings. Another 57 players earned $1 million or more.

Life on the PGA Tour is pretty good. But the key word is “earned.” Other sports give guaranteed deals, something not available for PGA Tour players. The opportunity to do that exists when traveling to events that will pay appearance fees. That is the crux of Norman’s issue. Why are players not allowed to freely play where they want?

As an Australian, Norman wanted to support his home circuit, his home events. He won the Australian Open five times, the Australian Masters six times. He also won another 22 Australasian Tour events.

But while a member of the PGA Tour, he had to seek and be granted releases to go play them.

The tour long ago shrewdly set up a system that requires players to sign over their media rights when they become members. That means they can’t just play wherever they want. It’s why when Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson played their Las Vegas “winner take all” $9 million match in 2018, the tour got a piece of the action.

It is simply protecting itself. The tour wants to tell sponsors its players will be available. Hence it requires them to play a minimum of 15 events, and seek releases to participate in tournaments staged on other tours, even exhibitions. It’s one of the reasons the PGA Tour enjoys a lucrative television contract and can offer purses that make even average players very wealthy.

The number of releases granted is typically three per season. To get more than that requires negotiation, and the tour likely will receive some sort of guarantee from the player: an extra start somewhere; a visit to a place he has not played previously.

All of that seems reasonable. Even though they are independent contractors, they are joining a player-based association that has rules. You can abide by them or not; Norman always did but felt frustrated that he was constricted, because securing five, six or seven releases became prohibitive.

The crux here is that a player who wants to compete on the PGA Tour as well as this new league Norman is championing will undoubtedly need more than three releases to make it work. How is it in the best interests of the PGA Tour to grant them?

“We are not here to pick a fight,” Norman said.

And yet, it seems like that is exactly what is coming.

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Kelly yells at LSU player, gets yelled at by other

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Kelly yells at LSU player, gets yelled at by other

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — LSU coach Brian Kelly was caught on camera screaming at one player and getting yelled at by another.

The sideline scenes were clear signs of frustration for a program that was on its way to losing a third consecutive game, at unranked Florida on Saturday. Now, the Tigers (6-4, 3-3 SEC) will be the ones out of the polls following the 27-16 defeat.

And the LSU fan base might be out of patience with Kelly.

“This is a simple exercise of do you want to fight or not?” Kelly said after his team’s latest loss. “Do you want to fight and take responsibility as coaches and players that we’re not playing well and we’re struggling right now?

“There’s a rough spot here that we have to fight through, and we have to do it together.”

Kelly appeared to get into it with wide receiver Chris Hilton Jr. in the first half. Kelly got in Hilton’s face after a play, and online lip readers suggested Kelly eventually called Hilton “uncoachable.”

Late in the third quarter, cameras captured wideout Kyren Lacy yelling at Kelly on the sideline after an empty possession.

In the clip, Lacy could be seen apparently letting Kelly have it. The coach’s eyes widened as he seemingly realized what was happening. The ABC camera quickly cut away from the interaction.

LSU lost to Florida for the first time since 2018. This one came despite the Tigers running 92 plays and having the ball for more than 41 minutes.

“We’re going to put guys on the field that are going to fight and do everything they can do to correct where we are right now — and that is struggling with consistent execution,” Kelly said. “I think we’ve seen it enough to know we have to be better as coaches and players.”

Kelly’s streak of 10-win seasons will end at seven. Kelly won double-digit games in each of his last five seasons at Notre Dame and extended it with consecutive 10-win campaigns in Baton Rouge.

But losing three in a row, to Texas A&M, Alabama and Florida, makes it impossible to get past nine victories.

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Smart critical of CFP committee after UGA victory

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Smart critical of CFP committee after UGA victory

ATHENS, Ga. — Georgia coach Kirby Smart wouldn’t say if being ranked 12th by the College Football Playoff selection committee motivated the Bulldogs to prove a point in Saturday night’s game against No. 7 Tennessee.

Coming off last week’s ugly 28-10 loss at Ole Miss, their second defeat of the season, the Bulldogs would be the first team left out of the playoff if the 12-team bracket was based on the current rankings. No. 13 Boise State would have received the automatic bid as the fifth-highest-ranked conference champion and have jumped them.

That’s probably not the case anymore, after Georgia manhandled Tennessee 31-17 at Sanford Stadium.

“I don’t know what they’re looking for. I really don’t,” Smart said of the CFP selection committee. “I wish they could really define the criteria. I wish they could do the eyeball test where they come down here and look at the people we’re playing against and look at them. You can’t see that stuff on TV, and so I don’t know what they look for. But that’s for somebody else to decide. I’m worried about our team.”

For the first time in a while, Georgia looked pretty good on both sides of the ball against Tennessee. The Bulldogs fell behind 10-0 in the first quarter but came back to tie the score at 17 at the half. Tennessee had only eight first downs and didn’t score in the final 30 minutes. It was the ninth time a Josh Heupel-coached team has scored fewer than 20 points; four of them came against Georgia.

The Bulldogs won their 29th consecutive game at home and defeated the Volunteers for the eighth straight time, all by double digits.

“Our kids showed resilience,” Smart said. “I’m proud of them. Look, it was a week ago, a couple of hours, that we were dead and gone. People had written us off. It’s hard to play in this league, week in and week out, on the road.”

After the Ole Miss loss, Georgia fell from third to 12th in the CFP rankings. Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel, the chairman of the CFP selection committee, said the Bulldogs’ inconsistent offense and turnovers were reasons why.

“They’re not in that environment,” Smart said. “They’re not at Ole Miss in that environment, playing against that defense, which is top five in the country with one of the best pass rushers in the country, and they’re fired up. They got a two-score lead, and they’re coming every play. They don’t know. They don’t understand that.”

Georgia has played the most difficult schedule in the FBS, according to ESPN’s College Football Power Index, and has the third-best strength of record, which reflects whether an average Top 25 team would have a team’s record or better against its schedule.

The Bulldogs also lost 41-34 at Alabama on Sept. 28 after falling behind 28-0 in the first half. They defeated Clemson 34-3 in their opener and won 30-15 at Texas on Oct. 19.

Adding a dominant victory over Tennessee should help Georgia’s CFP chances. It closes the regular season with two non-SEC games at home, against UMass on Saturday and rival Georgia Tech on Nov. 29.

“It’s just the tale of each week, and we’re trying to be the cumulative, whole, really good quality team and not be on this emotional roller coaster that’s controlled by people in a room somewhere that may not understand football like we do as coaches,” Smart said. “We as coaches, look at people and say, ‘What can we do better? How do we get better?’ I respect their decision. I respect their opinion. But I mean, it’s different in our league.”

One of the big reasons for Georgia’s success against Tennessee was quarterback Carson Beck, who completed 25 of 40 passes for 347 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions. He had thrown 12 interceptions in the previous six games.

Beck also scored on a 10-yard run that gave Georgia a 24-17 lead with 5:32 left in the third quarter.

“I didn’t really feel any pressure, to be honest,” Beck said. “I stood up in front of the team on Monday and talked to them about how I felt about how our season has gone. I told them that whatever has happened has happened and that all we can control is what we can control moving forward.”

Georgia’s offensive line didn’t allow a sack, while the Bulldogs sacked Volunteers quarterback Nico Iamaleava five times. Georgia had 453 yards and went 5-for-5 in the red zone.

“I think everybody understood the situation that we were in,” Beck said. “When our backs are against the wall, the only way out is through what is in front of you.”

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Sources: No. 2 ’25 QB Lewis decommits from USC

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Sources: No. 2 '25 QB Lewis decommits from USC

Julian Lewis, the No. 2 player and quarterback in the 2025 class, decommitted from USC on Sunday, sources told ESPN, sealing a seismic development for one of the nation’s top prospects in the closing weeks of the recruiting cycle.

Lewis’ decommitment, which had been expected, comes the day after the 6-foot-1, 195-pound quarterback took an unofficial visit to Georgia for the game against Tennessee. He also visited Colorado on Oct. 26 and expressed interest in Indiana throughout his recruitment.

The plan remains for Lewis to commit in the upcoming weeks and enroll early in school, according to sources. He’s the top uncommitted player in the class of 2025 and his choice looms as one of the biggest stories of the early signing period with Colorado, Georgia and Indiana expected to contend for his signature before the signing period opens Dec. 4.

Sources also told ESPN on Sunday that four-star Texas A&M quarterback pledge Husan Longstreet, No. 47 in the 2025 ESPN 300, has flipped his pledge to USC in the wake of Lewis’ departure from the Trojans’ incoming class.

USC quarterbacks coach Luke Huard attended Longstreet’s playoff game at Corona Centennial High School in California on Friday night, and ESPN’s No. 4 pocket passer visited the Trojans during their game against Nebraska on Saturday.

Lewis had been verbally committed to the Trojans since Aug. 22, 2023. Yet questions had swirled over his recruitment from the summer into the fall and all the way through to his decommitment from USC on Sunday.

Lewis’ move marks the latest blow to a USC class that has now lost six commitments from the 2025 ESPN 300 in this cycle.

That list of high-profile departures from Lincoln Riley’s incoming class includes five-star defenders Justus Terry and Isaiah Gibson, and Lewis’ exit stands as USC’s third recruiting loss in the past seven days following the flips of defensive lineman Hayden Lowe (Miami) and cornerback Shamar Arnoux (Auburn).

The Trojans sat ninth in ESPN’s latest class rankings for the 2025 cycle prior to Lewis’ decommitment.

With the move, Lewis instantly regains status as the one of nation’s most sought-after uncommitted prospects. He first entered that realm in 2022 when he burst onto the national scene with 4,118 yards and 48 touchdowns while leading Carrollton to the Georgia 7A state title game in his freshman season.

That debut campaign earned Lewis a place as the No. 1 prospect in the 2026 class before he reclassified into the 2025 cycle earlier this year, several months after his commitment to USC last August.

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