Rory McIlroy hit with LIV Golf taunts from Greg Norman forward of PGA Championship
Greg Norman has claimed that rival Rory McIlroy is starting to melt his stance in opposition to his controversial LIV Golf tour, regardless of the pair repeatedly participating in a disagreement for the reason that Saudi Arabia-backed collection was launched. The working feud between PGA Tour star McIlroy and LIV Golf’s CEO Norman has been a relentless supply of news because the breakaway tour threatened to disrupt the established order in skilled golf for good.
Neither Australian legend Norman nor four-time Major winner McIlroy have held again when it has come to sharing their views on the large modifications at present impacting the game, however because the LIV tour roles into Tulsa this weekend, the Great White Shark insists that his reverse is beginning to ‘see the sunshine’.
Former world primary Norman informed the BBC: “He [McIlroy] is starting to see that this is not an exhibition match or a clinic like he said in the past – this is real. These guys are competitors. They want to win and Rory’s no different so I’m glad Rory’s starting to maybe see the light a little bit.
“I’m glad Rory’s recognised that LIV has really recognized how antiquated the PGA Tour was. I’m glad Rory’s recognising that LIV has been a frontrunner in attempting to get the PGA Tour to observe us. Why have we finished that? Because of the gamers.”
Northern Irishman McIlroy’s disapproval of the LIV Golf inception was clear from the outset. When the tour was initially proposed, he insisted it was already ‘dead in the water’.
The opposite has proven to be the case however, with a large group of household names ditching the PGA Tour to join Norman’s breakaway operation, including the likes of Brooks Koepka, Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter, Sergio Garcia, Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau and Phil Mikelson.
As tensions grew between the two tours, McIlroy even called for Norman to quit his leading position with the LIV Tour. He said: “I believe Greg must go. I believe he simply must exit stage left. He’s made his mark however I believe now could be the proper time to say you’ve obtained this factor off the bottom however nobody’s going to speak except there’s an grownup within the room that may really attempt to mend fences.”
But after discovering himself successfully put in as a serious mouthpiece for the defence of the PGA Tour, McIlroy has admitted that 12 months of fixed disputes with Norman and LIV Golf have had an impact on him.
Speaking to Golf Digest, he stated: “It’s not the golf side of things. If you had nothing else going on in your life, you could play every week there is to play and be totally fine. But it’s just all the other stuff that was going on around the game of golf and being right in the middle of it. It sort of took its toll and, yeah, everything just sort of caught up with me this last month or so.”
Norman’s declare that McIlroy has gone mushy on LIV Golf may very well be attributed to feedback the Ryder Cup star made again in March, when he accepted that some good had come out of the dispute between the 2 excursions. Speaking on the PGA Players Championship in Florida, he stated: “I’m not going to sit here and lie. I think the emergence of LIV or the emergence of a competitor to the PGA Tour has benefited everyone that plays elite professional golf.”
McIlroy shall be as soon as once more amongst the favourites when the second main of the season, the PGA Championship, will get underway at Oak Hill Country Club on May 18. The former world primary shall be looking for his first Major victory in 9 years after lacking the lower on the Masters in Augusta final month.