McIlroy and Norman separate fact from fiction
Greg Norman confirmed LIV Golf has not spoken to Northern Ireland superstar Rory McIlroy.
“LIV never put an offer to him,” Norman said from LIV Adelaide in Australia. “We didn't need to make a comment about this. This is just typical white noise that gets out there in the industry.”
The 69-year-old “Shark” did, however, say he would be happy to entertain the idea, as unlikely as it would seem at this point. McIlroy recently put rumours to bed saying he intends to stay put on the PGA Tour.
“If Rory was willing to sit down and have a conversation with us, would we be happy to sit down with him? One-hundred per cent, no different than any other player who would be interested in coming on and playing with us,” Norman said.
McIlroy was at the centre of a particularly preposterous story in British financial newspaper City A.M. which reported following the Masters tournament that the golfer had received an US$850-million offer that he was yet to turn down. The four-time major winner, who was one of the PGA Tour's most vocal critics of LIV Golf before recently taking a more measured tone, refuted the outlandish story one day later.
“I honestly don't know how these things get started,” McIlroy told the Golf Channel April 16. “I've never been offered a number from LIV and I've never contemplated going to LIV.”
McIlroy's strident anti-LIV comments seemed to soften substantially after European Ryder Cup teammate Jon Rahm made the move to Norman's tour in December. “I think I've made it clear over the past two years that I don't think it's something for me. It doesn't mean that I judge people that have went and played over there.”
McIlroy finished the interview with an emphatic statement about his golfing future: “I will play the PGA Tour for the rest of my career.”
Wednesday in Adelaide, Norman did describe a meeting in his home with another “top, top” PGA Tour star.
“I've sat down with one top, top PGA Tour player in his house with another member of my team, walking through the whole process,” Norman said. “He was so impressed, he said, `Well, that's not what we're told in the locker room. This is really impressive.'”
According to Norman, the unnamed star player took 48 hours before coming back with his decision.
“He made the decision, he told me up two days later and said, `I've decided to stay where I'm at.' I said, `Happy days. You made a decision on fact. If you're happier over there, fine, stay there. Your door is always open; if you want to come back and have a conversation with us, happy to do that.'”
Jon Rahm would like to see LIV Golf switch to more traditional 72-hole tournaments, and still hopes to play some PGA Tour events.
The Spanish superstar says abandoning LIV's 54-hole format would help the product and encourage fans to accept the breakaway league.
“I think there's a level of comfort when I say that because it's a little bit more of what we're used to seeing in golf,” Rahm said Wednesday at LIV Adelaide.
“I came to this realization, and I think it could help a lot of fans' trust in LIV a little bit more because that's a lot of the complaints that I see from a lot of people.”
Rahm shocked the golf world by making the jump to the Saudi-backed LIV Golf for a reported $500 million.
The golfer likened LIV Golf and the PGA Tour to the European soccer model where there is room for multiple successful leagues.
“The one thing I realized is they all play under the same set of rules. While we play under most set of rules, the one key difference is 72 holes,” Rahm said.
“But at the end of the day, LIV is a business. If it doesn't fit the product, it doesn't fit the product. I'm just a player.”