From the start and for various reasons Rory McIlroy has been fiercely opposed to Greg Norman’s LIV Golf Invitational Series. But the Northern Irishman also explained why he had a grudge against the Australian. Also in his 2-part interview with Paul Kimmage of The Independent, the world No.
1 returned in detail to the reasons why he is making his war against Greg Norman a personal matter.
Rory McIlroy, statements
“I’m gonna be as boring as a pain in the ass” According to McIlroy, the two players began to clash in February 2020 when the Northern Irish spoke out against another dissenting tour proposal, the Premier Golf League.
The four-time Major winner explained that he wanted to be “on the right side of history”, like Arnold Palmer had been in 1994 when he opposed the World Golf Tour that Norman hoped to launch. “He wasn’t happy to hear me take a stand like that, and we had a pretty heated exchange.
He was very condescending, he was like, ‘Maybe one day you’ll understand,’” McIlroy explained. Rory then tried to put out the fire. This was in the wake of a documentary broadcast on ESPN returning to the discomfiture of the Australian who was well ahead of the 1996 Masters at the dawn of the 4th day and finally beaten by Nick Faldo.
Watching it McIlroy recalled how he felt on the comeback in the final round of the 2011 Masters. Both players buried the hatchet and Rory enjoyed their exchanges. But the truce was only short-lived and the war of words flared up again when Rory came across an interview with The Washington Post a few weeks later Rory “He said I had been ‘brainwashed by the PGA Tour’
I couldn’t believe my eyes after chatting with him in a peaceful way. That’s when I decided to make it my business now and be as boring as possible.” As they say, “these two are not going on vacation together!”
