Rory McIlroy opted to become 'pain in the a**e' of Greg Norman after 'brainwashed' barb from LIV Golf CEO
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Published 04/12/2022 at 16:49 GMT
The emergence of LIV Golf has split golf down the middle, with its CEO Greg Norman front and centre of the Saudi-funded series' charge. Rory McIlroy has stood tall in opposition and the pair have traded verbal barbs for portions of the second part of the year. The world No. 1 has revealed things could have been different had Norman accepted an "olive branch".
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Rory McIlroy has revealed he opted to become a “pain in the a**e” of Greg Norman after the LIV Golf CEO said the Northern Irishman had been "brainwashed" into doing the PGA Tour’s bidding.
The emergence of LIV Golf earlier in the year sent shockwaves through the sport and split it firmly down the middle.
Norman handed huge contracts to lure players such as Dustin Johnson and Cameron Smith from the PGA Tour.
Those players either resigned their memberships of the PGA Tour or had them suspended, and the two organisations have been at loggerheads for months.
Norman has been front and centre of LIV’s attacks on the PGA Tour, while McIlroy has taken a number of swipes at the Australian.
Following his win at the Canadian Open, McIlroy said he was motivated to move ahead of Norman on the list of PGA Tour wins with 21.
Norman has not been slow in hitting back at the likes of McIlroy, while it was reported on Sunday that he said he no longer takes any notice of what the world No. 1, and 15-time major winner Tiger Woods say after they urged him to leave his role to help heal the rifts in golf.
“I pay zero attention to McIlroy and Woods, right?,” Norman told Today's Golfer. “They have their agenda for whatever reason. They’re saying whatever they want to say. It has no bearing or effect on me. I’m going to be with LIV for a long, long period of time.”
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McIlroy was unhappy with Norman’s earlier line of attack about him doing the bidding of the PGA Tour, and elected to take the fight to the LIV chief.
"I thought, 'You know what? I'm going to make it my business now to be as much of a pain in his a**e as possible,"' McIlroy told the Irish Independent.
The world No. 1 revealed he took that stance after the pair had exchanged positive text messages about their respective collapses at the Masters, Norman in 1986 and McIlroy in 2011.
After watching a documentary on the 1986 Masters, McIlroy contacted Norman to say: 'Watching it reminded me of how you reached out to me in 2011, and I just want to say that I'll always appreciate it. It meant a lot. I know our opinion on the game of golf right now is very different, but I just wanted you to know that and wish you all the best'.
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Greg Norman
Image credit: Getty Images
“So, a bit of an olive branch, and he came back to me straight away: ‘I really think golf can be a force for good around the world...I know our opinions are not aligned but I'm just trying to create more opportunities for every golfer around the world.’
“Fine. Really nice,” McIlroy said.
“Then, a couple of weeks later, he does an interview with The Washington Post and says I've been ‘brainwashed by the PGA Tour'.
“We've had this really nice back-and-forth and he says that about me.”
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