Rory McIlroy opted to become ‘pain in the a**e’ of Greg Norman after ‘brainwashed’ barb from LIV Golf CEO

Rory McIlroy has revealed he opted to become a “pain in the a**e” of Greg Norman after the LIV Golf CEO said the Northern Irishman had been “brainwashed” into doing the PGA Tour’s bidding.

The emergence of LIV Golf earlier in the year sent shockwaves through the sport and split it firmly down the middle.

Norman handed huge contracts to lure players such as Dustin Johnson and Cameron Smith from the PGA Tour.

Those players either resigned their memberships of the PGA Tour or had them suspended, and the two organisations have been at loggerheads for months.

Norman has been front and centre of LIV’s attacks on the PGA Tour, while McIlroy has taken a number of swipes at the Australian.

McIlroy was unhappy with Norman’s earlier line of attack about him doing the bidding of the PGA Tour, and elected to take the fight to the LIV chief.

The world No. 1 revealed he took that stance after the pair had exchanged positive text messages about their respective collapses at the Masters, Norman in 1986 and McIlroy in 2011.

After watching a documentary on the 1986 Masters, McIlroy contacted Norman to say: ‘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 straight away: ‘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.’

“Fine. Really nice,” McIlroy said.

“Then, a couple of weeks later, he 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.”