Greg Norman has thanked Rory McIlroy for softening his stance on his view of the LIV Golf League after ‘a painful couple of years’ in the men’s game.
Greg Norman has thanked Rory McIlroy for softening his stance on how he views LIV Golf after ‘a painful couple of years’ in the men’s game.
In the most recent edition of LIV’s Fairway to Heaven podcast, Norman made the remarks.
Over the past two years, McIlroy, 34, and the Great White Shark have verbally sparred in public.
Setting the tone early on, McIlroy declared that his 21st career victory—the 2022 Canadian Open—was “one more than someone else.”
It was a clear shot at Norman’s 20 titles on the PGA Tour and appeared to mark the beginning of a bitter feud.
McIlroy later explained their rivalry actually began in February 2020 when he spoke out against what was then just referred to as an upstart league backed by Saudi oil money.
The Northern Irishman said they had a ‘testy exchange’ where Norman was ‘pretty condescending’.
From that day onwards, McIlroy told of how he vowed to be a constant pain in Norman’s arse.
For his part, Norman has accused McIlroy of being ‘brainwashed’ by the PGA Tour.
McIlroy previously said this comment was made after he reached out to Norman and told him how good his documentary was about his famous collapse at the 1996 Masters.
“I’m like ‘For f— sake!’ We’ve had this really nice back-and-forth and he says that about me,” McIlroy previous told GOLF.
Now it appears we can let the healing truly begin after McIlroy revealed he was ‘too judgemental’ of golfers when they initially bolted to LIV.
He has also made the stark admission he would consider being part of LIV should it turn into ‘the IPL of golf’.
Norman told the podcast: “I’ve got to be honest with you – I’m very appreciative of what Rory said. It’s been a painful couple of years. What we have done is been consistent. Our narrative has been consistent. Our delivering mechanism has been consistent.
“The reason I say I appreciate Rory to fall on his sword to some degree is the fact that he did judge us by not knowing the facts. He judged us on other people’s thoughts and opinions.”
Norman continued: “We wanted to sit down from day one with them to completely make them understand the value of the LIV footprint, business model and impact has and can made on the game of golf.
“Hey, thanks, Rory,” I say. It was a given that it would function well within the golf ecosystem. He stated, “We all want to be there, and we will be there.” This, in my opinion, is a crucial turning point for everyone.
“We’ve shown the Rory Mcllroys of the world that, in such a short amount of time, we can make a significant impact on the game of golf. Just think of what we can accomplish in 53 years, when the PGA Tour does the same.”