Greg Norman says every PGA Tour player should be thanking LIV Golf
Rory McIlroy has called on Greg Norman to ‘exit stage left’ if LIV golf and the PGA tour are to have any chance of ending the civil war that has torn golf apart.
Golf
Don't miss out on the headlines from Golf. Followed categories will be added to My News.
World number one Rory McIlroy said Greg Norman will have to go if there is any chance of the PGA Tour and LIV Golf coming to the table and ending their acrimonious battle.
The four-time major champion said “I think there’s a few things that need to happen” when asked in Dubai on Tuesday if it was possible for the two warring parties to find peace.
“There’s obviously two lawsuits going on at the minute. There’s the PGA Tour versus LIV Golf and there’s one coming up with the DP World Tour in February. Nothing will happen if those two things are still going on.
“From whatever happens with those two cases, I’d like to see a few things on the LIV side to happen.
“I think Greg needs to go. I think he just needs to exit stage left. He’s made his mark, but I think now is the right time to sort of say, look, you’ve got this thing off the ground, but no one is going to talk unless there’s an adult in the room that can actually try to mend fences.
“And if those two things happen, then things can change.
“But right now, it’s a stalemate because there can’t be any other way.” The Northern Irishman has been outspoken in his criticism of LIV Golf and has taken several jabs at Norman in the past.
McIlroy was speaking ahead of the $10 million DP World Tour Championship, the season-ending championship of the European Tour where he is aiming to win the Race to Dubai title and complete a double across both sides of the Atlantic.
He has already claimed the $18 million cheque for his FedEx Cup triumph. McIlroy loves the Earth course at Jumeirah Golf Estates where he has a fantastic record.
In 11 starts, he has won twice (2012 and 2015) and has finished inside the top-20 on all 11 occasions. His best round on the par-72 course is a 64 and he has shot 65 four times and a 66 seven times in 44 rounds.
“I think for me, a golf course like this plays right into my strengths. There are four par-5s. So, par-72s are usually golf courses that I excel on because of the four par-5s and I’m able to play the par-5s quite well because of my length.” - ‘Ways to improve’ -
McIlroy won three times on the PGA Tour this year and has had 14 top-10s in 21 starts. He has missed just one cut, at the FedEx St Jude Championship in August.
“It’s been very consistent, especially in the majors. This year felt very similar to 2019, very similar numbers in terms of strokes gained. If anything, I was a little better this year stats-wise. Better around the greens and definitely putted better. It’s the first time I ever finished in the top 20 in putting on the PGA Tour this year,” said McIlroy.
“So, it’s really nice at this stage of my career, 15 years in, that I’m still finding ways to improve. That’s a big positive thing going forward. It’s been a great year and I’m excited to see where I go from here because as I said, those improvements 15 years into a career is something that excites me.” The tournament features the top-50 players in the Race to Dubai at the end of the Portugal Masters, and McIlroy is leading the Race to Dubai with 4,154.1 points.
New Zealand’s Ryan Fox has climbed to second place and is just 128.1 points away in second, with the reigning US Open champion Matthew Fitzpatrick third and Tommy Fleetwood in fourth place.
SAY THANK YOU: NORMAN’S MAJOR SWIPE AT TIGER, RORY
Greg Norman says LIV Golf critics Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy owe him and his Saudi-backed rebel tour a debt of gratitude. A thank you, he says, would suffice.
“Competition is the best thing for everybody,” Norman said moments after confirming LIV Golf would host an event in Adelaide next year.
“Competition is the best thing for the PGA Tour. The players on the PGA Tour are the beneficiaries of what LIV has done.
“Every PGA Tour player should be thanking LIV, including Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy. Prize money wouldn’t have been increased without LIV. All these other ancillary things have been introduced by the PGA Tour because of LIV.
“Competition is the best thing in life, in business and in sport. LIV is not going to go anywhere. LIV is just going to get better and better and better.
“LIV Golf has only just begun.”
Woods and McIlroy have been arguably the most strident critics of the LIV Tour, which has signed some of the sport’s biggest names and splintered the golfing world.
Norman ensured Australia would be one of the focal points of the fight on Monday morning when he fronted a press conference to announce that LIV would host a multi-million dollar event at The Grange golf club in Adelaide for the next four years.
Two weeks after the US Masters, Adelaide will showcase one of the best fields seen in this country. The tournament is expected to be headlined by Open champion Cameron Smith and potentially feature major winners Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson, Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau, Sergio Garcia, Henrik Stenson, Patrick Reed and Louis Oosthuizen.
It is the sort of event that the sport in this country has been crying out for, albeit under controversial circumstances given LIV continues to enrage and excite.
Norman is happy to keep on poking the bear, taking aim at the PGA Tour when he was asked about the potential for peace talks during a conference call with Australian media on Monday morning.
“The honest answer is that the ball is in their court, not ours,” Norman said.
“We have reached out on numerous occasions through different avenues. I am not exhausting any more energy on it. We have seen the success … with that LIV has delivered.
“We are a force for good. We do fit in within the ecosystem. We are not going anywhere.”
While Norman has ended the speculation over the host city for Australia’s first LIV event, he is happy to keep everyone guessing over potential targets as the tour continues to pursue big names.
He revealed he had a hit-list of Australian players, although the final say on who LIV will chase will sit with Smith and Leishman - the pair were given a 25 percent stake in the Punch GC franchise when they signed with the tour.
He also urged the majors to remain neutral in the fight for golfing supremacy.
“The majors must, must stay Switzerland,” Norman said.
“The majors need the strength of field. They need the best players in the business. So I do hope they stay Switzerland.
“And if it is a LIV player that wins a major next year, that goes to show how we work within the ecosystem. These players are the best.
“They have choices now and that is what the beauty of what LIV is all about. If a LIV player goes and wins any other tournament on any other tour, happy days.”
Norman has taken immense personal criticism since LIV began its assault on the sport. Woods and McIlroy are just two very prominent names on a long list of identities who have hit out at Norman and the LIV Tour.
His crusade to shake up the golfing world has come at some personal cost but he insists he remains immensely proud of what he has achieved.
“There has to be some person who has to run through the brick wall,” he said.
“If you run through a brick wall you are always going to get blood on you. I am proud of the fact the PGA Tour has had to react to LIV.
“To see what they have done within the PGA Tour in such a short period of time is testament to what competition is all about. The disappointing side of the whole thing is the hypocrisy of what has been going on.
“They made the decision to go down the path they wanted to go down.”
‘Identify as female’: Golf controversy erupts
Three members of an elite Australian golf club have been suspended over a sexism row related to membership fees.
Scott’s bold plan to be like Tiger
After becoming Australia’s highest-ranked male golfer again aged 44, Adam Scott has a bold plan for one of the sport’s biggest tournaments.