Greg Norman defends his Saudi-backed golf series: 'I do not answer to Saudi Arabia'

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The shark is taking a stand.

Two-time major championship winner Greg Norman is defending his Saudi-financed invitational golf series, which he hopes to build into a full super league by 2024.

The Australian, 67, is the CEO of LIV Golf Investments, which will hold an inaugural invitational tournament worth a record $25 million, at the Centurion Club in the United Kingdom next month. 

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Greg Norman, of Australia, watches his tee shot on the first hole during the final round of the PNC Championship golf tournament on Dec. 20, 2020, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack, File)

During an interview with Sky Sports, Norman defended the source of his $2 billion in financial backing which comes from the Saudi's Public Investment Fund.

"They're not my bosses. We're independent. I do not answer to Saudi Arabia. I do not answer to MBS [Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud]," he said. "I answer to my board of directors, and MBS is not on that. Simple as that. So that narrative is untrue."

Norman said that he understood people's concerns about the source of the money funding the tour, considering the history of human rights abuses in Saudi Arabia. But he argued the country was attempting to make a "cultural change from within." 

"It's reprehensible what happened with [Jamal] Khashoggi. Own up to it, talk about it," he said. "But you go back to Saudi Arabia, they're making a cultural change from within to change that. They don't want to have that stigma sitting over there."

"The generation of kids today that I see on the driving range, they don't want that stigma going into that next generation and their