Greg Norman responds to Rory McIlroy to LIV speculation
Greg Norman has denied that LIV Golf have made an offer to Rory McIlroy, but suggested that the door remains open for any PGA Tour players who wish to join.
A report that the Northern Irishman had been subject to an offer from the Saudi-backed series was quickly dismissed as “fake news” by McIlroy’s manager after The Masters.
The four-time major winner has been a prominent critic of the breakaway LIV project, though a number of top golfers have signed up, including Jon Rahm.
And though Norman was clear that no deal had been tabled, the LIV chief executive said that he would willing to have a discussion with McIlroy if the 34-year-old was interested.
“LIV never put an offer to him,” Norman said ahead of the LIV event in Adelaide. “We didn’t need to make a comment about this, this is just typical white noise that gets out there in the industry.
“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.
“It’s understanding the facts about what LIV represents and what LIV can deliver on a global basis, it’s up to you to determine it. 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, and he was so impressed.
“He said, ‘well, that’s not what we’re told in the locker room. This is really impressive’, but 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 here, fine, stay there. Your door is always open; if you want to come back and have a conversation with us, happy to do that’.”
McIlroy is set to rejoin the PGA Tour’s policy board just five months after stepping down from his role as negotiations continue over a possible partnership with the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund (PIF).
A framework agreement of a potential commercial partnership was announced last June but little progress appears to have been made towards a deal that would help re-unite golf.
Norman has no insight on how talks are going and insists his priority is on further building LIV Golf’s profile.
“Our investor wanted to invest into LIV because he loved the opportunity of the franchise model, what he could do with it and how we can build it out on a global platform,” Norman said.
“So, me specifically, I don’t know what’s going on over there. I really don’t want to know what’s going on over there because we are so fixated on growing and developing and building out what LIV is today and looking and doing our schedule for 2025 and going into 2026.
“Our responsibility is to look after our people, our players, and where we want to go. I don’t have an answer.”
