PIF SAUDI INTERNATIONAL POWERED BY SOFTBANK INVESTMENT ADVISERS

February 1, 2022

Greg Norman

Cho Minn Thant

Joohyung Kim

Royal Greens Golf and Country Club

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. A warm welcome to today's press conference from the Royal Greens Golf and Country Club, home of the fourth edition of the PIF Saudi International powered by SoftBank advisors and first to be hosted on the Asian Tour. It is a pleasure to have you with us during this historic occasion.

Please let me begin by introducing our top table. As you can see, we're joined for our announcement by three very special guests. To the left of our top table, I'd like to welcome Cho Minn Thant, the chief executive and commissioner of the Asian Tour. In the middle we have former world No. 1, Mr. Greg Norman, and the CEO of LIV Golf Investments, and on the right, Joohyung Kim, who just a few weeks ago at the tender age of 19 was named Asian Tour Order of Merit winner for the 2020-2021 season.

We have a very special announcement, so I'd like to welcome Greg to address our media here today and those joining from around the world. Greg, over to you.

GREG NORMAN: Is it afternoon or morning? Good afternoon, everybody. From my perspective, being in the game of golf for over 45 years, it's just a great honour to be sitting here.

There's a lot of reasons why I can say that. I've been a global player. I've been very impressed and helpful in growing the game of golf across all continents that I could possibly go. When you're fortunate enough to be No. 1 player in the world because of your capabilities and your competitive level to get to that spot, it's no easy feat, but when you get there, you have a lot of responsibilities you have to assume, not necessarily inherit, but you assume, and that responsibility differs for many players.

My responsibility as the best player in the world was to grow the game of golf as much as I could possibly grow it, and to do that, you had to be eyes wide open and ears wide open to see what was going on around the world.

Now, a lot has changed in 40 years. There's no question about it. Joohyung and I were just talking about it inside there, and we said, well, we're going to when this press conference is finished, just an example, the press conference is finished we're going to do a couple shows outside here, and one of it is the PGA Memes. His eyes lit up, PGA Memes, yes, yes, yes. That's the younger generation; that's what it's all about. Over a 45-year history and 40 years from now, he's probably going to be going, PGA Memes? Who's that?

But this is an incredible journey, and I'm going to get back to my point. It's an incredible journey and an opportunity to be able to reach out to every fan, every player, every stakeholder, every partner that you possibly can to grow the game of golf. It doesn't happen with one individual, it happens with multiple people, multiple organisations, and it happens with the belief that the game of golf is an asset class. We invest into the game of golf for certain reasons, the player on my left and the commissioner of the Asian Tour on my right.

So we at LIV Golf Investments, we recognise this, and part of the decisions and behind the scenes discussion we have, we want to understand where and how do you unlock a sleeping giant, and the Asian Tour has been a sleeping giant for a long period of time.

I first went to Asia and played as a player, coming out of a pro shop as an assistant pro. It gave me the gateway, the pathway to open competition and free opportunities to experience different cultures and different places.

I'll never forget that moment 40-odd years ago. I'll never forget the moment when I played the first exhibition match on mainland China. Never been done before. I was fortunate enough to be able to do that.

I've seen the growth and development of the game of golf through Asia, through the Middle East, in my homeland of Australia, in Japan. We've seen Japan have this meteoric rise in recent times because of what Hideki had done. Where did Hideki play? The Asian Tour. He won the Asian Amateur. There was a pathway for him to become the U.S. Masters champion.

So when you recognise these opportunities of the sleeping giant that's sitting out there, the investment opportunities as a partner to come in and get involved with the Asian Tour and to launch what we have behind us, the International Series, is what I'm going back to in the beginning. It's a great honour.

I could play the game of golf, I've done a lot of other things in the game of golf outside of just playing in the business and building the business, designing golf courses all around and through Asia, and when you put it into perspective, between the Middle East and the Asia Pacific Rim, that's 45 per cent of the golfing market. That's four and a half billion people sitting there with an opportunity for the game of golf to grow. 4.5 billion people to be given the opportunity.

60 per cent of all development today, golf course construction, is happening in the Middle East and in the Asia Pacific market. If you think about those economic booms that they're doing, Cho sees it all the time. So when you see those opportunities, we as stewards of the game have to open those pathways up even more.

Our investment dollars, which is about $300 million to date -- we started off at 200, and we've gone to $300 million. It's because we believe in the players. We believe in the partners that we're associated with, the Asian Tour. We believe in the future of where the game of golf can go.

In a nutshell, what have we really done? We've identified a new opportunity out of a lost opportunity, and I mean that in all sincerity. The lost opportunity people should be embracing, other institutions should be embracing. We are very, very respectful and will always be open, and I'm always going to be a healthy, friendly competitor, and that's important to know, because the market is huge and it's open for everybody, and we're going to have these open pathways.

From LIV Golf Investments, this is just the start for us. The 10-event series we'll be starting off is just the beginning. It's the beginning of an exciting new journey.

I want to just thank our partners. I want to thank the players, and I want to thank Joohyung for his belief in what's going on. There's going to be thousands of Joohyungs coming through, but what we're doing is we're giving them the opportunity to do what he loves to do the most: To compete in a fair and equal competitive market, giving him a pathway to move on, his pathway which he'll be recognising this year for the second time ever. I'll let him talk about it.

We are proud of that, and I'm just saying to the partners, we're always going to be -- and the players, we're always going to be standing shoulder to shoulder, side by side and just trying to capture this lost opportunity and open up a whole new market.

With that, over to the commissioner.

THE MODERATOR: If I can just come to you first to respond to Greg's announcement, and then if you can just talk about the International Series, what it means to you, what it means to the Tour.

CHO MINN THANT: Sure. Good morning, everyone. Welcome to the Saudi International this week. It's a great opportunity for us at the Asian Tour to be part of a fantastic tournament that's one of the most well-known tournaments on the global golfing calendar. For players like Joohyung, the 50-plus members of the Asian Tour, we're really happy to be here this week, and it's an auspicious week because it's Chinese new year today or lunar new year. I see one person in the audience is wearing a red shirt like myself, so I'm wishing everyone health, happiness and prosperity for the Year of the Tiger to come, so happy new year, everyone. We're delighted to be celebrating the opening of the 2022 season here in Jeddah.

Like Greg said, this is a wonderful opportunity for the Asian Tour, not only in terms of starting the season but looking ahead to the International Series, which was launched briefly in November.

We're here today to add some colour, to add some more details to what the International Series will be, what it's all about and how we're going to elevate the status of the Asian Tour.

I guess the most important thing for everyone and everyone has been asking for the last two months is where are the International Series tournaments going to be held, when will they be, what the prize monies will be.

The first thing I'd like to announce is the first tournament is going to be in Thailand. It's going to be called the International Series Thailand being played at Black Mountain Golf Club, which is familiar to a lot of us in this room. We've played many golf tournaments there. It's a world-class venue. The prize purse will be $1.5 million, and that will kick off the series.

The next destination that we'll visit is London at Centurion Club. The prize purse will be $2 million at Centurion Club, and yes, it comes as a surprise to many of us in this room, but it's basically part of our strategy to make the Asian Tour more of a global tour. We have members from all over the world, 25 different nationalities playing on the Asian Tour. It's not just for Asians. It's not just in Asia, and we will be playing in other destinations outside such as the Middle East. We'll be playing in Asia, in China, Singapore, Hong Kong, Vietnam and Indonesia, but dates and locations to be confirmed because we are still in the midst of a COVID pandemic where travel is difficult in Asia.

We'll be adding more details to the other eight events of the season in due course, but for today, the details of the first two in Thailand and England are what we're here to talk about.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you. Just before we go to Joohyung and talk to a player about this announcement, do you just want to tell us how proud you are of this young man and others coming through your Tour like this?

CHO MINN THANT: Oh, absolutely. We've always said that the Asian Tour is the youngest and most vibrant Tour out there, and the proof is in the pudding. You look at the Order of Merit winners over the last few years, they've all been under the age of 24. Joohyung is 19 years old, hasn't even reached 20.

His story is very much a story that we're very proud of. He came through qualifying school three years ago. He paid his dues playing the Asian Development Tour. He worked his way up to the Asian Tour and was talented enough to win, and then the COVID pandemic hit. He didn't have a lot to play, but he ground it out, he went back to the drawing board, developed his game, went to America, computed on his home tour in Korea. He managed to win three times in Korea, won the Order of Merit over there. As soon as the Asian Tour started up again, he was ready to go. Phenomenal finishes in Thailand, winning one tournament in Singapore and coming second.

I think everyone in this room should remember the name. He's going to be a world beater soon, and we're very proud of what he's done.

That type of story actually personifies what the Asian Tour has gone through as an organisation, as well. We're a young organisation. We were trending upward before the COVID pandemic hit, and then it was disastrous for us for a year and a half.

But through a crisis there's always an opportunity. We worked with Greg and the team to work on how we would come back, how we would come back stronger and reach this arrangement with LIV Golf which is going to propel us to new heights.

THE MODERATOR: Quite the introduction. Joohyung, I'll come to you now. This must be terrific news for you. I'm sure you're thrilled at the prospect and you're looking forward to these two new tournaments that have been announced. Could you talk about what this means to you?

JOOHYUNG KIM: Yeah, as Cho said I started from the ADT, and to be honest, I feel like Asia is a very underestimated tour because the competition is just absolutely crazy, and you see on the world stage where a lot of Asian people are carrying the flag. I think Asian Tour is the start, and this is the pathway to the big stage.

Just because of how hard the Tour is, I feel like if you can play well out here, you can play good on the big stage.

I'm very lucky to be able to play on this tour and to have additional tournaments, and the prize money as well as a very big bonus, and I'm pretty sure all the players are very happy about it.

THE MODERATOR: I'm sure 18 months ago this was unthinkable, not only for COVID but sort of your own personal journey. What's it like to be sitting here now in front of the world's media?

JOOHYUNG KIM: Yeah, after the pandemic I was just waiting around until Asian Tour started. I was just thinking about the past, and once they announced it, the prize money went up, we had more events. Just very, very lucky.

THE MODERATOR: Greg, if I may come to you again, could you sort of explain to us what does LIV Golf Investments hope to come out of this investment? What do you look to achieve? Why make this investment?

GREG NORMAN: Well, like I said in the beginning, it's an investment into the future of what the game of golf represents in this region. Look, LIV Golf, this is just the beginning for us, to be honest with you. We're always looking for opportunities to invest into different markets around the world and just sustained focus on this, and just hearing what Joohyung said, as a player, it's just music to my ears to hear that because this is just one individual who's achieved a lot at a very early age of his career. This is one individual that's so appreciative of the opportunity that lays ahead for him and the other players.

When you hear that, you go, this is what it's all about. It's part of a very complex and very understood business model that we're taking forward because of that. The players, there's not a professional golfer on this planet that cannot get to his destination without having support of great partners. There's no question about it. We're giving them that pathway to doing it.

From a LIV Golf perspective, like I said, this is just the beginning for us. We see so many great opportunities ahead. We identify virgin space for lost opportunities or people overlooked for decades and decades and decades, so we also recognise that being respectful and healthy competitors gives that ability to go forward.

From my perspective, it's just a blessing to sit down with some super intelligent people as we look to the future knowing you're hearing the words like what Joohyung just said in the background.

THE MODERATOR: Everything is so new, is happening so fast, as you've just described. Can you just explain the relationship between LIV Golf Investments, the Asian Tour and even your own personal role in this.

GREG NORMAN: Yeah, absolutely. I'm the chairman -- excuse me, the CEO of LIV Golf Investments. Cho is the commissioner of the Asian Tour. Cho has done a phenomenal job. That's one of the reasons why when we sit back and look at it for the last year and a half, maybe a little bit longer, a little bit shorter, we look at what Cho and his team behind the scenes have developed and delivered, right, so you've got to understand their viewpoint and their goals what they have into the future. So Cho has done a phenomenal job and will continue to be a phenomenal commissioner for the Tour.

THE MODERATOR: Greg, you're one of the first players really to play the game globally. As you said, started in Asia, then Europe, made your way to the U.S., but even when you were world No. 1 you continued to play all around the world. How important do you think that is?

GREG NORMAN: Look, it's up to the individual. I took the roles and responsibility on my shoulders primarily because I love to understand what the game of golf could do.

Today I look at it through a different prism. Today I look at it as a golf diplomacy, and I mean that in many different ways because through my other business entities I have, through golf course design, for example, you start to understand where the money is moving around the world. Like I mentioned in the top of my opening remarks, 60 per cent of all golf course construction is happening in this region.

I've seen it in Vietnam, I've seen it in Japan, I've seen it everywhere we go, and if you see the investment dollars, FDI, foreign direct investment money moving in, golf is an economic indicator, without question. So when you know there's an economic indicator showing what's happening in the Middle East -- I built the first grass golf course in Jordan. Then I built a golf course in Oman. So you see the growth of what's going on through the Middle East and you go, thank you. One, for being involved with it; two, thank you for my business for being involved with it.

It's incumbent on me to take the responsibility on, and I'm willing to do it to actually give the next 40- to 50-year pathway for the game of golf to grow and develop, and LIV Golf Investments is part of that.

THE MODERATOR: Cho, if I can just come back to you again, what will stand out about these tournaments against your current schedule? Will it have a different look or feel or engage fans in a different way or through broadcast?

CHO MINN THANT: Sure, these 10 tournaments are certainly going to be a level up for the Asian Tour. We still have regular events on the Asian Tour which make up our backbone which are very important to our players, but these 10 events are going to be set up in a way where the fans and the players have an enhanced experience.

You look at the setup this week, I'm not saying that every single week will be as spectacular as this week, but they're going to come close. There's going to be great hospitality. There's going to be enhanced television at each tournament. There's going to be more media. Obviously we're going to be able to reach out to more fans and make the experience for the players who compete a special experience where they can tell their other peers from around the world that hey, the Asian Tour is very hospitable. The Asian Tour's quality of staging is just as good as anywhere else in the world, and it's a fun place to play and it's an alternative way to move up the ranks in the world of golf.

THE MODERATOR: Joohyung, just to come back to you, you won the Asian Tour Order of Merit, a career highlight, I'm sure, but due to recent changes from the R&A, that win wouldn't have been good enough to get you into The Open. You took your qualifying place through a top-4 finish in the Singapore Open. How did you feel about that change from the R&A, perhaps yourself, and was it discussed amongst the Tour members?

JOOHYUNG KIM: Again, first of all, I was very fortunate to have the chance to get my -- get a spot at the Open, at the Singapore Open, and yeah, obviously if you win the Order of Merit, it would be great if you actually had a spot. But it wasn't the case.

From my point of view, I was very fortunate that I finished second and got a spot, but I think if you had won the Order of Merit, it would be definitely more of a reward if you got a spot.

THE MODERATOR: Cho, just coming to you, same question.

CHO MINN THANT: I mean, absolutely. It was disappointing that the Asian Tour's exemption into The Open was not present at the 150th Open Championship at the Home of Golf. Obviously a very significant tournament, but hey, like Joohyung said, we're a resilient tour. We've got resilient players, and we did it the hard way. There's still opportunities for some of our players to get into The Open through various qualifying tournaments around the world, and we will have players play in the Open Championship, and they will have earned it.

Q. Greg, wouldn't it have been really interesting if you had announced an International Series event in the U.S., as well, at the same time?

CHO MINN THANT: Baby steps. It's exciting for us to do a 10-event series, Thailand obviously being one of our favourite destinations, and doing a tournament in London is certainly different for us, but we're going to embrace the opportunity, and our guys are going to have a good time and fly the flag high for us there.

GREG NORMAN: Yeah, the International Series is not going to be geofenced. Just because the International Series is associated with the Asian Tour, we want to get the message out there that it's just not specifically for the Asian region, and that's critically important for everybody to understand. Healthy competition and respectful competition should be spread globally. That's why we're not going to geofence this.

That's why it's so encouraging that we can go to London. It'll be so encouraging when we go to the United States. It'll be so encouraging. Remember what I said, this is just the beginning.

In the beginning we have to get, like Cho said, get off with baby steps, understand where we need to go and how we're going to need to do it. This is just the infancy of this journey, and it's really going to be an exciting journey.

Q. Can we see the London stop as a statement event and fully that you mean business and nobody's backyard is off limits?

CHO MINN THANT: Well, I think it's not so much going into someone else's territory. It's like Greg said, it's a global game. We're not geofenced. As the Asian Tour we are not limited to only Asian players; players from all around the world can come and qualify and play our tour. It's an open tour.

If you look at the way the other tours are operating, as well, there's instances where the PGA Tour plays in Asia. There's instances where the DP World Tour is trying to or playing in Asia, as well. Obviously there's no boundaries anymore in the world of golf.

Q. To both Greg and Cho, are you surprised at the kind of vehemence that the Asian Tour is receiving for joining hands with LIV Golf? Of course we know there are other things involved, but this is just one part of the equation, and I think personally it should be embraced by everyone, but that's not the case. You have the tours which have gone after the Asian Tour just with plain vehemence.

CHO MINN THANT: Yeah, on behalf of the Asian Tour, you're right. We've been vilified as bad boys in the press over the last few months, and I really think it's unjustified. Any Tour that's out there for the members has a responsibility to its membership to look at sponsorship and partnership opportunities to improve our Tour. Likewise the European Tour worked with DP World in their sponsorship to title sponsor the Tour. I don't see us working with LIV Golf Investments or any other promoter, any other sponsor throughout the course of the season as a bad thing.

I'm out here to increase the number of playing opportunities for our members. I'm here to increase the amount of prize money that's on offer. I'm here to improve the awareness and the experience for the fans of golf in Asia, and I think this is exactly what we're doing.

GREG NORMAN: And from our perspective, I think the most compelling indicator for me is the number of calls we have had from corporations and other individuals excited about the opportunity. Why? We've given another pathway. We've given another opportunity for corporations, players, everybody across the board to see that fair and equal competition is there to be had.

When you think back in the past, like I mentioned for 40-plus years I've been involved with the game of golf. I've been involved with these institutions that you're probably referencing. I was only involved, now speaking for me myself personally as a professional golfer, that was my only pathway. You only had one choice to make. You either had to go there or you had nowhere.

That's great. That's what we had to deal with.

But now there's different pathways. There's different pathways for Joohyung to go forward and just experience his ability to elevate his game to get to wherever he wants to go. And if the LIV Golf Investments allows the Asian Tour to get elevated through the International Series, God bless competition, right? There's not a human being in this room, there's not a CEO or corporation anywhere on this planet that haven't achieved certain levels without competition. You haven't become a great journalist without the competitors you have around you. Do you know how many people would love to take your job and be sitting in your seat right now?

Healthy competition is a great thing, right? So as long as we do that in a respectful, healthy way, everybody is going to be a benefactor. Every bit of the ecosystem for the game of golf will be the benefactor. Right now there's this new opportunity, and like I said, you used the word "embrace." Every institution should be embracing this new opportunity of unlocking the lost opportunity that's been left sitting there for decades and decades and decades.

Q. Greg, what kind of legacy do you want to leave in the Middle East or in Asia?

GREG NORMAN: Look, just growing the game of golf. That's just the most important thing for me. I've seen the game of golf grow in my country through my commitment to my country. I've seen the game of golf grow in the United States through the era that I grew up in. I saw the game of golf in Japan when I went there and I played Jumbo Osaki and Isao Aoki and Tommy Nakajima and Masahiro Kuramoto. I've seen the game of golf change through there.

I've seen the game of golf through Dubai grow up. When I first went to Dubai, the tallest building was the Hard Rock Hotel, maybe 10 stories. I've seen the evolution of the game of golf grow so much through a game and through the value of the game that it can do from hospitality, economics, employment, across education, everything across the board.

My responsibility is to make sure we unlock all those potential opportunities that sit out there, not be an institution that just sits there and say, we own this space. Nobody owns the golf space. The golf space is free. It's the sport of golf that we have the ability as investors to go in and invest, to seek a return on that investment through partnerships with the Asian Tour, through partnerships with whomever wants to come out there, like I mentioned. It's just been an incredible -- since I've been involved since August, it's been an incredible inundation of phone calls and people who have been involved with the game of golf for decades and decades, now all of a sudden seeing a new opportunity coming, and they're going, can we sit down and talk to you, please? And we say, sure; what are you seeking? What are you looking for? This is where we're going.

We're having major institutions wanting to invest into LIV Golf Investments.

It's the pathway for everybody to be, like I've said before, be the benefactor of success, and success can only be achieved through competition.

Q. The Middle East is an important region for the DP World Tour. How important is the Middle East going to be for the Asian Tour and how many events might we see in the region?

CHO MINN THANT: It's greatly important to us. Now that we've done our first event here at the Saudi International in a long time in the Middle East, it's just the first step of many. We're looking to do two of our International Series events in the Middle East region, and like Greg said, my phone has been inundated with calls, especially from sponsors, potential stakeholders in the Middle East wanting to have a piece of the action. I think it's going to be a huge part of what we do in the future.

We've just entered a partnership with the MENA Tour, as well, where eventually the Asian development Tour and the MENA Tour will become one. So it's a huge area for us to grow in, and we're looking forward to it.

Q. Greg, I remember you went to boardroom meetings dealing with your businesses and you started falling asleep but then you realised how important it was to be hands on with your businesses. I'm wondering of all the businesses you've been involved with off the course, what sort of challenge does this present compared to all those other businesses, the wineries, the restaurants?

GREG NORMAN: You mean my personal business? That's easy. I'm now the chairman of that company, I'm not the CEO, so I have great people behind me that are doing that, have been doing it for decades. For me I have individuals who worked for me close to 30 years in that company. So they're seeing -- they understand where my vision is.

Now, I'm going to say my vision is a little bit unique to most, especially in my business, because I look at not just what's happening today or tomorrow or next year, I'm looking at 12, 15, 20 years into the future, 40 years into the future, because I can look back with a vast amount of experience and knowledge about what happens over a period of time.

The individuals I have placed in my company today have been with me long enough to understand my viewpoints. If they need a question to be answered, I'll go answer it, but I will not get involved with the minutiae of the day-to-day stuff except for golf course design. That's still my passion, and the reason why it's a passion is because I touched on it before, it's an economic indicator.

We have so much involvement with different governments around the world because of golf course design, so I will still say vehemently passionate about that because I can take opportunities that we see in there. I'm 100 per cent focused as chairman -- excuse me, as CEO of LIV Golf Investments, and I'll remain that way until we achieve our goal, and what that goal is, or goals, plural, time will tell.

Q. I know you've only announced a couple of initial tournaments, but being an Australian yourself, would you like to see maybe one day an International Series heading down under?

GREG NORMAN: Yeah, absolutely, of course I would. Remember, this is just the beginning. So there are going to be other opportunities. This is not just going to be 10 events, it's going to be more than 10 events.

The pathways to the future are very, very broad and very, very varied in a lot of ways. And of course I would. Australia in my heart of hearts is where it all started for me, right.

But you know, at the same time, talking about it, the Australian decided to keep their alliance with the European Tour. Hey, that's their decision. But anything you do in business, always keep your eyes wide open and keep your opportunities out there for you to be able to make a flexibility or adaptability to new environments and new opportunities. That's all I said.

From my personal perspective I would like to see it. There's no question about it. To me Australia is part of Asia. We're the Pacific Rim.

I think when you start looking at the connection of all the countries around there and all the population and the value of money running through that region, Australia is a very integral part of that.

Q. American golf fans tend to have an American centric view of the game. From where you sit, which golfers have the biggest global impact on the game today?

GREG NORMAN: Which individual golfers? Look, I've got to say the game of golf today is very, very healthy. Cho mentioned the number of different nationalities that play on the Asian Tour. I don't know what it is on the U.S. Tour or the European Tour, but it's probably 25 to 35 different nationalities. That only confirms the comments that I made in the beginning about the game of golf needing to be expanded on a global basis.

Why do international players have to go to one location to increase their opportunity for success? Why aren't there multiple different places for the international player to be able to go to? And why isn't the opportunity for maybe an American player to spread his wings and come and play on the International Series that is not geofenced and learn different cultures and different places and different corporations and different this? That's part of growing up.

From my perspective, the game of golf is extremely healthy, and so I'm sure it's not going to change going forward. The quality of play has been elevated, and so it's just wonderful, and obviously from a social media standpoint, we've got Travis over here in the back corner with PGA Memes, to see what social media has done for the game of golf, for the players, for institutions is amazingly incredible.

We have to reach down -- the average demographic of a golf fan today is the oldest in sport. It's 65½. We have a problem. We have to reach down through the Travises of the world. We have to reach down to that younger generation, Joohyung and younger, down to the 12-, 13-, 10-year-old kids, pluck them up here and just allow them to have the opportunity of seeing golf in a different light. That's part of what LIV Golf Investments is going to be doing.

Q. This is a question for Cho. This is the fourth edition of the championship and the first under the umbrella of the Asian Tour. What does this partnership with the Saudi Golf mean to you, and what's new at this tournament?

CHO MINN THANT: It is very exciting for us to be part of the fourth edition of the Saudi International, the first on the Asian Tour. Our players such as Joohyung, they're embracing the opportunity to play against the best players in the world. It's not often that we get a chance to play against these stars from around the world, play for this type of prize money, to play for this amount of World Ranking points. So we're looking to -- I guess our members are looking to take advantage of this playing opportunity and really show the world what the Asian Tour players are capable of.

What's new this year? Obviously the prize purse going up from $3.5 million to $5 million. The winner takes home a million dollars as the winner's check, so that's one of the biggest things. Obviously seeing different people playing from different countries is the biggest thing for us.

Q. Greg, you mentioned being a friendly competitor to the PGA and DP World Tours. Clearly they don't see it that way. Are you prepared for a fight if it comes? Those tours are on sticky ground if it comes to threatening players with sanctions.

GREG NORMAN: Well, we're not in this for a fight, there's no question. We're in this for the good of the game. That's where we're at. It's disappointing to be honest, personally disappointing to see some of the attacks that have been taking place unwarrantedly. Any time you go into -- if you pre-judge anybody without knowing the facts, then shame on you, to be honest with you.

Are you scared of something? What is LIV Golf Investments doing that you are scared of? Why do you have to have these attacks to the level they do? Understand the fact that we have always and continued to be very collaborative and cooperative with any of the institutions right across the board. We want to work together side by side.

There's a really interesting analogy. There's a piece of pie, right? So if these institutions you're talking about, if a piece of that pie has disappeared, does the pie get smaller or does the pie get bigger? We see the piece of pie that we're taking, the opportunity to see through the lost opportunity, makes the pie bigger.

When you look at Facebook, share price was $3 at one time. Now what is it? You've got to be able to give the ability to sit back and listen and understand the opportunities to sit side by side for the sport of golf. Simple as that. It's all about the game.

I cannot enforce this enough to anybody, The Times, anybody. It's for the betterment of the game. It's not for the betterment of the administrations or anything else. It's the betterment for the players, the fans, the stakeholders, broadcasters, everybody across the board.

I would encourage them to sit back and say, maybe it's a good time to sit down and understand if we can work side by side.

Q. For Cho, why did you decide to kick off the series in Thailand?

CHO MINN THANT: Well, obviously Thailand is a very important market for us. We've played a lot of tournaments in Thailand over the years, a lot of our members are from Thailand, and most importantly in this point in time, Thailand is a country that we can play in.

Japan, Korea, Indonesia, Singapore, they still remain fairly restrictive, and the Thailand government has been very supportive of us doing tournaments, and it's just an enjoyable destination. It perfectly summarises what the Asian Tour is about, the hospitality, the country as a destination, and there's no better place for us to kick start the season. It just works very well for us.

Q. Greg, I think the one aspect of it that everyone wants to know is obviously the Super Golf League. I know this is for the International Series, but what are your plans for that, and how is Asian Tour involved? Is that the reason why everyone is so annoyed with the Tour? Are you going to make any announcement about that? Why the silence? And do you think because of the role Asian Tour is playing with you right now, that is the reason why everyone is so upset with the Tour?

GREG NORMAN: Look, they're upset for their own reasons. From our perspective, we have our game plan about how we're going through it. We're executing extremely well across all sectors of the ecosystem.

If they want to be upset with us, that's their choice. We're not upset with them. We're not picking a fight. We don't want to do anything, like I explained before.

Our process is this: LIV Golf Investments is investing into the International Series. That's what we're focused on now today. Will there be things announced in the future? Absolutely there are going to be things announced in the future. But right now our focus is on this. Our mission is to make sure this platform is firmly cemented in the world of golf and where we see it sitting, and we'll focus on that, and then there will be another announcement, and then there will be another announcement.

This journey, this is not a one-off journey. You want to sit back and see the evolution and how this is all building out, it's going to be an incredible one.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you, everybody. That draws a close to our press conference today. I hope you all look forward to the start of the tournament on Thursday. Thank you again for your time, everyone.