Greg Norman ridiculed for ignoring the obvious with Jon Rahm claim
LIV Golf chief executive Greg Norman has revealed what he said to Jon Rahm which allegedly persuaded the Spaniard to join the rival league.
Greg Norman was ridiculed by some golf fans after he revealed his sales pitch to Jon Rahm.
Rahm signed with the rival league in a deal worth a reported £450m on 8 December after weeks on intense speculation.
The reigning Masters champion has reportedly agreed a three-year contract with the Saudi-backed breakaway.
Rahm, 29, has maintained he still wants to compete on the PGA, DP World Tour if permitted.
He even got emotional after Rory McIlroy claimed European chiefs need to change the Ryder Cup rules to make Rahm eligible to be on the team in two years' time.
One person who is delighted Rahm has joined LIV is Norman.
It's clear the Australian two-time Open champion has been after Rahm since even before LIV's launch in June 2022.
The timing of the Rahm deal is also significant, given it will allow LIV's financiers, the PIF of Saudi Arabia, significant leverage in ongoing negotiations with the PGA Tour to ratify the 6 June framework agreement.
Norman revealed what he allegedly told Rahm before he left the Spaniard to mull over the seismic decision.
"One word that resonated with him from me was 'partnership," Norman told reporters.
"I said to him right from the beginning, when I first met him a month or two ago in Arizona.
"My final statement to him I said 'Jon, I just want you to sit back when I leave and I want you and Kelley to think about this."
He continued: "On any tour we're a past serenity, we play our finite time period, we're great players, execute for a short period of time, 15 years, 13 years, 17 years, whatever it is and then you're done.
"No institutional tour invests in you. With LIV, you're joining a family and you're going to have a partnership with us across the board.
"And I left, I just left him with that.
"Then we talked about our partnership together in the board room in New York with him about where it's going to take him, the value it's going to create for him and how he's going to achieve it."
Of course it wasn't lost on some fans that had it not been for the gargantuan signing-on fee he was unlikely to leave.
"This is all nothing," one X user wrote. "Honestly read this and try to understand it. It's just word salad."
Another added: "And how does 550 million smackeroonies sound?"
Whilst this user twisted the knife: "What a long way of saying, 'Jon you have no backbone and we can make you stupid rich in a sport where you bring in no eyeballs compared to fellow sportsmen.'"
Rahm's decision to join LIV has sent shockwaves through the sport.
The PGA Tour is presenting a united front but there are rumours of chaos behind-the-scenes and speculation the Rahm signing will open the floodgates for more defections.
Rahm's good friend Tony Finau is reportedly the next to leave, along with his European Ryder Cup teammate Tyrrell Hatton.
Hatton's team have denied this is the case, though. Read more about that here.
Read more:
- Tour pro rips Jon Rahm over LIV Golf format claim: "F--- me, heard it all now!"
- One of LIV Golf's harshest critics changes his tune: "Best thing for PGA Tour"
- 10 players who changed their minds about LIV Golf: "I'm obviously not going!"
- Jon Rahm's message to Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy: "This wasn't personal"
Ben joined GolfMagic as Content Executive in September 2021 just before the Ryder Cup and has contributed significantly to the growth of the site. Ben now assumes our Content Manager role, specialising in PGA Tour, DP World Tour and LIV Golf content.
