New Saudi-backed golf tournament will lure top players with huge prize money, says Greg Norman

Star names like Tiger Woods have pledged their loyalty to the PGA

Greg Norman says prize money will attract players to the tournament (Getty Images)

Many of the world’s top golfers have distanced themselves from the Saudi-backed LIV Golf Invitational Series, but Greg Norman said the lure of the huge prize purses on offer will prove too hard to resist.

The series released details of eight new tournaments in March, promising prize money of at least $250million. The US-based PGA Tour has told its members that they would be banned if they joined it.

Several top players including Tiger Woods, Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas have expressed their allegiance to the PGA Tour, while Rory McIlroy has described the breakaway league as “dead in the water”.

Norman told The Telegraph on Tuesday, however, that the series was going ahead with or without them.

“Quite honestly it doesn’t matter who plays, we’re going to put the event on,” said Norman, who is fronting the new circuit.

“There’s a $4m first prize. I hope a kid who’s 350th in the world wins. It’ll change his life, his family’s life.

“And then a few of our events will go by and the top players will see someone winning $6m, $8m, and say: ‘Enough is enough, I know I can beat these guys week-in-week-out with my hands tied behind my back.’”

The LIV Invitational series will launch at the Centurion Club near London the week before the US Open in June.