Rory McIlroy LIV latest - Greg Norman 'happy to talk' to World number two

LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman has said he is ‘100%’ willing to talk to Rory McIlroy about joining the controversial tour.

McIlroy has remained loyal to the PGA Tour during golf’s two-year civil war despite many of his colleagues jumping ship to join LIV for astronomical figures.

Reports emerged last week stating that McIlroy was considering joining the Saudi-backed tour in an eye-watering $850 million deal. The Northern Irishman swiftly denied the rumours and claimed that he would never leave the PGA Tour.

McIlroy’s comments come at a time when the merger between LIV, the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour through Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund have reached an impasse.

Now, Norman has addressed the speculation over McIlroy’s links with the LIV project, as he admitted: “LIV never put an offer to him.

Rory McIlroy and Greg Norman have both explained the situation after reports that the former had been offered a deal by LIV Golf

“We didn’t need to make a comment about this, this is just typical white noise that gets out there in the industry. If Rory was willing to sit down and have a conversation with us, would we be happy to sit down with him? 100 per cent, no different than any other player who would be interested in coming on and playing with us.

“I’ve sat down with one top, top PGA Tour player in his house with another member of my team, walking through the whole process, and he was so impressed. But he made the decision. He called me up two days later and said, ‘I’ve decided to stay where I’m at’. I said, ‘Happy days. You made a decision on fact. Your door is always open; if you want to come back and have a conversation with us, happy to do that’.”

McIlroy emerged as the de-facto leader of the PGA Tour during LIV’s early days and was a key defender of the status-quo.

He has stepped back from his role on the PGA Player board in recent times to focus on his own play. However, it has been reported this week that the Hollywood man is set to make a dramatic return to the board.

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