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19th Hole

Rory McIlroy reveals how Greg Norman recently soured relationship after olive branch had emerged

Published

2 months ago

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Rory McIlroy has arguably become the face of the PGA Tour. Despite Tiger Woods and McIlroy calling for Greg Norman to step down from his position as CEO of LIV Golf, “the Shark” is still very much the face of the rival golf league. With their respective positions, it hasn’t been all that surprising that the relationship between the two big names in the world of golf has grown exceedingly contentious.

However, what may be a bit surprising to some is that up until recently, the relationship between the two was very strong.

In McIlroy’s recent interview with the “Sunday Independent“, the 33-year-old revealed some conversations he’d had in the recent past that give a better understanding of his complex relationship with Norman.

Rory was one of the first players to say he wasn’t interested in joining a rival golf league with huge, guaranteed contracts being the motivating factor.

“He (Norman) 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 (stuff),”

However, McIlroy remembered some kindness showed from Norman after Rory collapsed at the 2011 Masters. After the tournament, Norman reached out to McIlroy with some words of comfort. “He was great,” McIlroy said.

With that in mind, McIlroy reached out to Norman after watching the 30 for 30 documentary about Norman’s 1996 Masters collapse that was released in April of 2022.

“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.”

“So, a bit of an olive branch, and he came back to me straightaway: ‘I really think golf can be a force for good around the world… I know our opinions are not aligned but I’m just trying to create more opportunities for every golfer around the world.”

At that point, although they disagreed on whether LIV was a good or bad thing for golf, they seemed to have reached a level of mutual respect and gone their separate ways. Until, according to McIlroy, Norman re-opened the floodgates by saying just a few weeks later that Rory had been “brainwashed” by the PGA Tour.

“A couple of weeks later, he (Norman) does an interview with The Washington Post and says I’ve been brainwashed by the PGA Tour. We’ve had this really nice back-and-forth and he says that about me.”

After the interview, McIlroy’s thought process changed: “I thought, you know what? I’m going to make it my business now to be as much of a pain in his a**e as possible,” with the four-time major winner claiming that the PGA Tour is lucky Norman is involved in LIV because, as he said, “if they had found someone less polarizing, LIV could have made more inroads.”

At this point, it seems as if the relationship between two of the biggest stars of each of their eras is beyond repair. The two have gone back and forth with comments on multiple occasions in the past few months and there doesn’t appear to be any desire on either side for a mending of the fences anytime soon.

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2 Comments

2 Comments

  1. CrashTestDummy

    Dec 9, 2022 at 12:55 am

    PGA and LIV are in a big battle for market share of professional golf and professional golfers. There are pending lawsuits on both sides. Both sides have been throwing barbs at each other. Both sides need to just focus on what is the best outcome for both tours and forget the petty things said.

    Drop the lawsuits and go through mediation to see if things can be worked out amicably. It looking like a bitter divorce. Lol.

    Reply Report comment

  2. Big Guy

    Dec 6, 2022 at 5:13 am

    Its sad it has come to this. So unnessarily personal on all fronts.

    Reply Report comment

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19th Hole

Bryson’s current situation with Cobra revealed as he uses TaylorMade driver at Saudi International

Published

6 hours ago

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Feb 3, 2023

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At this week’s Saudi International, Bryson DeChambeau surprised golf fans by putting TaylorMade’s Stealth Plus 2 driver in the bag. Bryson has been a long time staffer at Cobra Golf and it was a shock to see the 28-year-old with a driver from a different OEM to begin his season.

 

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A post shared by Sporting Insights (@sms_on_tour)

Per Dan Rapaport of Barstool Sports, a Cobra rep has confirmed that Bryson is simply out of contract with the brand, but that the two parties are currently in discussion about this year and the future.

In our forums, our members have been discussing the changeup from DeChambeau, but make sure to check out the entire discussion and have your say at the link below.

  • FifeRiviera: “Honestly Cobra woods are the single most underrated pieces of equipment on the market.”
  • Lacey Underall: “Just my guess – everyone on LIV will be an equipment free agent soon.”
  • KimmerBH: “Never been a fan of Bryson but I do miss seeing him play every week along with some others that went to LIV. He was definitely entertaining to watch, I’ll give him that.”

Entire Thread: “Bryson using Taylormade Stealth Plus 2 driver at Saudi International; Current situation with Cobra”

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19th Hole

‘Sums up my life in the golf industry’ – Paige Spiranac on polarizing Phil Mickelson tweet

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6 hours ago

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Feb 3, 2023

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After a long break from Twitter, Phil Mickelson was extremely active on Twitter yesterday. His resurgence resulted in the golf world reacting for most of the day.

Paige Spiranac used one of Phil’s tweets to “sum up” what it was like to be a female in the golf industry.

The tweet seemed to be a joke, and to be clear the tweet Phil shared wasn’t directed towards Spiranac, yet some Lefty detractors weighed in calling the tweet “misogynistic.”

The full context of the tweet is here:

We can be sure that as long as Mickelson is this active on Twitter, the app will be buzzing with golf personalities and their reactions.

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19th Hole

‘The hypocrisy is astounding’ – Phil Mickelson takes aim at RBC for missing logo at Saudi International

Published

1 day ago

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Feb 2, 2023

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This morning, Cameron Young played the first round of this week’s Saudi International at Royal Greens Golf and Country Club.

As noticed by Twitter user “EPatGolf”, the 25-year-old PGA Tour player was missing the RBC logo that is typically on his sleeve.

Patterson speculated that the reason for the missing logo was RBC’s reluctance to be associated with golf being played in Saudi Arabia.

Never a stranger to controversy, Phil Mickelson weighed in on the topic, accusing RBC of hypocrisy.

Mickelson has been extremely active on Twitter lately and replied to a Danny Woodhead tweet just a short while ago about a potential LIV vs PGA Tour match with Tiger Woods and Phil as captains, even managing a little dig at his long-time foe.

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