Australian golf great Greg Norman has taken a further swipe at the PGA Tour and and Tiger Woods after he claimed LIV Golf’s introduction is the biggest shake-up in the sport ever. LIV Golf CEO Norman has been fending off criticism from top players such as Woods and Rory McIlroy since he helped lead the Saudi-backed breakaway group last year.
Regardless of what golfers think of the breakaway group, top players such as Phil Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka and Australian major winner Cameron Smith have all joined on whopping sign on fees. This has ruffled feathers amongst the elite with players claiming their is no legacy in LIV Golf.
However, The Open was the latest major to reveal that if LIV golfers are eligible and qualify for the tournament they are free to play. This announcement will see the majority of the big names in LIV Golf still play the majors this year.
And Norman has taken another shot at the PGA Tour on the People I (Mostly) Admire podcast and called his tournament the biggest thing to have happened to the sport. “It is the biggest thing to ever happen to the game of golf in over 53 years,” he said on the podcast to Steven Levitt.
“And when you think back over time, Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus and a few others broke away from the PGA of America that the PGA Tour. Why did they do that? They do it as players, right? All their independent rights – to compete. This is no different than what were doing today.”
Norman went on to claim that the PGA Tour doesn’t like the competition of LIV Golf because it previously held all the bargaining power.
“Yes, we’ve gone and ruffled a few feathers. But we ruffled the feathers of a monopolist,” Norman added. “A monopolist who basically controlled the sport for 53 years.