Rory McIlroy has revealed exactly how his ongoing feud with LIV Golf boss Greg Norman began.
LIV and Norman have shaken up the world of professional golf following the formation of the breakaway circuit earlier this year. There has been plenty of criticism lauded towards the Saudi-backed series and its CEO, with McIlroy one of its most outspoken critics.
This has led to the four-time major champion exchanging plenty of back and forth with Norman throughout the saga. Now in his latest tirade McIlroy has detailed how their beef first began, with the origins dating back to two years before the inception of LIV Golf.
Talking to the Sunday Independent , the 23-time PGA Tour winner said: "So this goes back to some comments I made in 2020 when I was asked about the PGL [another breakaway tour] and the conflict that was brewing. I want to be on the right side of history with this one, the way Arnold [Palmer] was in the ‘90s with the whole Greg Norman thing.’
“I didn’t say anything derogatory about Greg at all, just ‘this happened in ’94 and Arnold Palmer stood up for the rest of the membership.’ Anyway, he wasn’t happy, and we had a pretty testy back-and-forth and he was very condescending, 'Maybe one day you’ll understand', and all this s***e.”
Despite their initial clash, McIlroy went on to reveal it was not all bad blood between the pair after they exchanged text messages following Norman's appearance in a Masters documentary earlier this year. He went on: "Fast-forward to this year and a week after Augusta there’s a documentary about him on ESPN, Shark , about his loss in ’96. So I watched it and was really moved and thought, ‘You know what? I’m going to send him a message.’
"So I did, [texting Norman saying]: ‘Greg, I just watched your documentary on ESPN. I thought it was fantastic. It must have been very tough to do that. Hopefully it reminds everyone of what a great golfer you were.’ There was another thing. When I lost or had my meltdown at Augusta in 2011, Greg had sent a lovely message and been really helpful to me.
“So I said to him, ‘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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“He came back to me straightaway: ‘I really think golf can be a force for good around the world … Great to see you playing so well… 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."
This left McIlroy all the more shocked just a couple of weeks later, after Norman claimed in an interview with the Washington Post that the Northern Irishman had been brainwashed by the PGA Tour. Responding to this, the four-time major champion made it his job to 'be as much of a pain in his a*** as possible'.
"Then, a couple of weeks later, he does an interview with The Washington Post and says I’ve been 'brainwashed by the PGA Tour'," he added. I’m like ‘For f*** sake!’ We’ve had this really nice back-and-forth and he says that about me. I thought, ‘You know what? I’m going to make it my business now to be as much of a pain in his a*** as possible.’"
