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LIV Golf texts between Greg Norman and Sergio Garcia revealed

Text messages exchanged between Greg Norman and Sergio Garcia in the lead-up to LIV Golf have emerged.

Golfers who joined Norman on the Saudi-backed LIV Tour face an indefinite ban from the PGA Tour, and a group led by Phil Mickelson is suing them for antitrust violations, claiming the Tour does not have the authority to levy that punishment. As part of that suit, the golfers presented text messages between Norman and Garcia, who joined the rebel tour in June.

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The text messages reveal Garcia was relaying the PGA Tour’s plans to execute the bans on golfers when the LIV defections occurred.

After sending brief pleasantries on February 11, Garcia got down to business, texting Norman: “I just wanted to see how things are going with the League, cause it seems like a lot of those guys that were loving it and excited about it last week , now are s***ting in their pants.”

Norman responded: “Morning. All going very well. I have not heard the white noise of s***ting their pants. Who are you referencing so I can run a check?”

Garcia answered that it was “some of the younger guys” and that he thought “the (PGA) Tour reached out to them and scared them a bit and because they are young, I think it worked”.

Norman was adamant that the PGA Tour did not have the legal standing to issue a ban.

“If you have names I can reach out to them,” he texted.

“In regards to the Tour if they were going to ban players they would have already. They know they cannot hence no action outside of verbal threats. If you can get them or any player threatened to get it (in writing) fantastic. Thanks.”

The text messages in the lawsuit were uncovered by Dylan Dethier of Golf Magazine.

Six days after the initial exchange, Garcia informed Norman that the “Tour has told our managers this week that whoever signs with the League, is ban(ned) from the Tour for life! I don’t know how are we gonna get enough good players to join the League under (these) conditions. What do you think.”

Norman again assured Garcia that this would not be legally possible.

“They cannot ban you for one day let alone life,” Norman texted. “It is a shallow threat. Ask them to put it in writing to you or any player. I bet they don’t. Happy for anyone to speak with our legal team to better understand they have no chance of enforcing.

“Who said there would be a lifetime ban? And to whom? You? Or your agent? What are they saying specifically? Important to know these facts. Also I will get something to show you why they cannot.”

LIV Golf commissioner Greg Norman. Steve Dykes/Getty Images/AFPSource: AFP

Garcia explained his understanding of what had happened.

“The commissioner had a meeting with the 5 or 6 biggest agencies of golf managers, mine included, and first told them that if any of their players had signed with the (LIV) league, that they should leave the room and after that they talked about what the (PGA Tour) is going to do going forward and that whoever signs with (LIV) they would be (banned) from the (PGA Tour) for life. I would love to get it in writing but I doubt they will do that,” he wrote.

Garcia ultimately joined LIV Golf after an epic meltdown directed at the PGA Tour in May.

Star golfers who have reportedly earned over AU$143 million apiece from LIV Golf include Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau.

This article originally appeared on the New York Post and was reproduced with permission

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Golf news 2022: LIV Golf texts between Greg Norman and Sergio Garcia revealed

Text messages exchanged between Greg Norman and Sergio Garcia in the lead-up to LIV Golf have emerged.

Golfers who joined Norman on the Saudi-backed LIV Tour face an indefinite ban from the PGA Tour, and a group led by Phil Mickelson is suing them for antitrust violations, claiming the Tour does not have the authority to levy that punishment. As part of that suit, the golfers presented text messages between Norman and Garcia, who joined the rebel tour in June.

Watch LIVE coverage from The USPGA Tour with Fox Sports on Kayo. New to Kayo? Start your free trial now >

The text messages reveal Garcia was relaying the PGA Tour’s plans to execute the bans on golfers when the LIV defections occurred.

After sending brief pleasantries on February 11, Garcia got down to business, texting Norman: “I just wanted to see how things are going with the League, cause it seems like a lot of those guys that were loving it and excited about it last week , now are s***ting in their pants.”

Norman responded: “Morning. All going very well. I have not heard the white noise of s***ting their pants. Who are you referencing so I can run a check?”

Garcia answered that it was “some of the younger guys” and that he thought “the (PGA) Tour reached out to them and scared them a bit and because they are young, I think it worked”.

Norman was adamant that the PGA Tour did not have the legal standing to issue a ban.

“If you have names I can reach out to them,” he texted.

“In regards to the Tour if they were going to ban players they would have already. They know they cannot hence no action outside of verbal threats. If you can get them or any player threatened to get it (in writing) fantastic. Thanks.”

The text messages in the lawsuit were uncovered by Dylan Dethier of Golf Magazine.

Six days after the initial exchange, Garcia informed Norman that the “Tour has told our managers this week that whoever signs with the League, is ban(ned) from the Tour for life! I don’t know how are we gonna get enough good players to join the League under (these) conditions. What do you think.”

Norman again assured Garcia that this would not be legally possible.

“They cannot ban you for one day let alone life,” Norman texted. “It is a shallow threat. Ask them to put it in writing to you or any player. I bet they don’t. Happy for anyone to speak with our legal team to better understand they have no chance of enforcing.

“Who said there would be a lifetime ban? And to whom? You? Or your agent? What are they saying specifically? Important to know these facts. Also I will get something to show you why they cannot.”

Garcia explained his understanding of what had happened.

“The commissioner had a meeting with the 5 or 6 biggest agencies of golf managers, mine included, and first told them that if any of their players had signed with the (LIV) league, that they should leave the room and after that they talked about what the (PGA Tour) is going to do going forward and that whoever signs with (LIV) they would be (banned) from the (PGA Tour) for life. I would love to get it in writing but I doubt they will do that,” he wrote.

Garcia ultimately joined LIV Golf after an epic meltdown directed at the PGA Tour in May.

Star golfers who have reportedly earned over AU$143 million apiece from LIV Golf include Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau.

This article originally appeared on the New York Post and was reproduced with permission

.

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Greg Norman’s LIV Tour forces PGA Tour’s $590m prizemoney first

Faced with a growing challenge from the Saudi-backed LIV Golf Series, the US PGA Tour announced a 2022-23 season schedule on Monday offering a record $AUD590 million in prize money.

The PGA increased the prize money at eight invitational tournaments, with The Players Championship set to pay out $35m, and will offer $206m in bonus money, including $107m for the FedEx Cup playoffs, which will be trimmed to 70 players from the current 125.

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The move comes as the LIV Golf Series — spearheaded by Aussie legend Greg Norman — has offered the highest purses in history to lure big-name talent from the PGA to its upstart tour, which is set to rise from eight events in 2022 to 14 in 2023.

LIV Golf has drawn protests and claims of “sportwashing” from critics citing Saudi human rights issues but such stars as Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson, Henrik Stenson, Bryson DeChambeau, Paul Casey and Patrick Reed have jumped to the rebel series that debuted in June.

The US PGA, which will return to a season that coincides with the calendar year starting in 2024, tightened its playoffs and boosted select purses after comments from fans, PGA commissioner Jay Monahan said.

“The overwhelming sentiment was they wanted more consequences for both the regular season and the playoffs and to further strengthen events that traditionally feature top players competing head-to-head,” Monahan said. “We feel strongly we’ve accomplished all of these objectives.”

The 2022-23 PGA season will have 47 tournaments, including three playoff events next August with a field of 70 at the St. Jude Championship in Memphis, 50 at the BMW Championship in Chicago and the top 30 in points advancing to the season-ending Tour Championship at East Lake in Atlanta.

After the season ends, late 2023 will feature events for those outside the top 70 to earn status for the 2024 PGA campaign plus a series of “international events” featuring the PGA top 50 in a limited field, no-cut format. No other details were revealed about those events.

The St. Jude and BMW will see a jump in prize money from $21 million to $28 million.

The January Tournament of Champions will see its purse rise from $12 million to $21 million next year. It will become the lead-off event of the PGA season when the schedule changes in 2024.

Four events will see prize money jump from $17 million to $28 million — the Genesis Invitational in February hosted by Tiger Woods, the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill in March, the Jack Nicklaus-hosted Memorial in June and the WGC Match Play in March.

Prize money will jump from $28 million to $35 million for The Players Championship in March.

The Scottish Open, Barbasol Championship and Barracuda Championship will remain co-sanctioned with the DP World Tour.

The 2022-23 campaign will begin on September 15-18 with the Fortinet Championship at Napa, California, with the Presidents Cup the following week at Quail Hollow.

The CJ Cup has been moved from South Korea to South Carolina and will be played in October with the Bermuda Championship the following week.

The Rocket Mortgage Classic, won Sunday by Tony Finau, will start June 29 next year while the 3M Open moves to the end of July.

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Greg Norman LIV golf mess could end in player boycott, Davis Love III says

Davis Love III has a proposition to solve the divide that the LIV Golf Invitational Series has caused.

In an interview with Sports Illustrated, the World Golf Hall of Famer and captain of the US Presidents Cup team expressed frustration over how LIV is plucking players from the PGA Tour and disrupting the sport. So he suggested that he could see a scenario where players boycott a major championship to motivate golf’s governing bodies to ban LIV players from competing in them.

“Well, here’s the biggest lever; and it’s not the nice lever,” Love told Michael Rosenberg of Sports Illustrated. “But if a group of veterans and a group of top current players align with 150 guys on the Tour, and we say, “Guess what? We’re not playing,’ that solves it, right? If LIV guys play in the US Open, we’re not playing. If they sue in court, and they win, well, we’re not playing. You know, there won’t be a US Open. It’s just like a baseball strike.”

The PGA Tour has issued indefinite suspensions to players who are participating in LIV, which in turn has made them ineligible to participate in this year’s Presidents Cup, which is run by the PGA Tour. It also hinders their ability to play in the Ryder Cup, since players need to earn qualifications through Tour events and be a PGA of America member.

While the PGA Championship, US Open and the British Open have all acknowledged the headache LIV Golf has caused, these major championships still allowed qualified players to play in their tournaments this year.

Back in April, Masters chairman Fred Ridley said Phil Mickelson was not prohibited from playing as a past champion despite the fact that the six-time major championship winner was clearly headed toward signing with LIV. Love said he exchanged several messages with Mickelson, who was ultimately one of the first players to go.

Love has tried to convince players they could be making a long-term mistake and has asked if they are comfortable with never playing in the Ryder Cup or Presidents Cup again.

“Some of them understood it,” Love said. “Some of them think they are going to court or whatever and are going to prevail, and they’re gonna get to come back. What they don’t seem to understand is that players make the rules. So we can strengthen the rules rather than loosening the rules, right?”

With the deadline to make his captain’s selections for the US President Cup team just a few weeks away, Love has to recognize that players for both teams could potentially leave prior to then and after the FedEx Cup playoffs. LIV is scheduled for two events in September before the Presidents Cup.

This article was originally published by the New York Post and reproduced with permission

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