Greg Norman earlier this month at LIV Golf’s occasion in Las Vegas.
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Greg Norman and LIV Golf are apparently not carried out recruiting gamers.
Or Masters winners.
In a story written by Australian Golf Digest’s Brad Clifton and printed Monday, Norman himself even revealed whom they’re flirting with.
“We’ve been trying to get Hideki Matsuyama,” the commissioner of the Saudi-backed sequence informed Clifton.
“I don’t mind admitting that.”
The curiosity has been there for a whereas.
According to the New York Post, Matsuyama had turned down a nine-figure deal to be a part of the league in August of 2022, after the PGA Tour’s Tour Championship. At that point, six different execs — Cameron Smith, Joaquin Niemann, Harold Varner III, Marc Leishman, Anirban Lahiri and Cameron Tringale — had left the PGA Tour for LIV, then in its first season.
About a month later, on the Presidents Cup, Matsuyama admitted to GOLF.com that he had been approached by LIV. Through a translator, Matsuyama gave a six-word reply to clarify why he was sticking with the PGA Tour.
“Simply this is where I belong,” he stated.
In the identical interview, a reporter additionally requested Matsuyama if he could be considering enjoying a PGA Tour-LIV Golf crew occasion, ought to one ever come collectively. His reply once more was brief.
“I can’t decide something like that because there’s nothing specific about it,” he stated via the translator.
But apparently, the conversations haven’t stopped, although there had been a pause between LIV and the PGA Tour poaching one another’s gamers following a proposed funding deal between the Tour and the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund, which funds LIV. That proposal, introduced final June, continues to be negotiated, however a non-solicitation clause from the settlement has since been eliminated.
Hideki Matsuyama admits to talks with LIV however is staying with PGA Tour
Nick Piastowski
Since then, extra Tour gamers have joined LIV, most notably Jon Rahm, final yr’s Masters champion who final December joined six different inexperienced jacket winners with the league (Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Sergio Garcia, Patrick Reed, Bubba Watson and Charl Schwartzel).
Notably, Rahm, too, had additionally as soon as pledged to the Tour. But in an interview with GOLFs Dylan Dethier earlier this yr, Rahm stated LIV’s cash supply — which, like Matsuyama’s supply, was reportedly 9 figures — was a massive issue, as was his Masters victory and his win on the 2021 U.S. Open. An Augusta victory means you might be invited again for all times, and Rahm is exempt into the U.S. Open via at the very least 2031.
Another issue? The shifting dynamics in golf.
“What opened the door a little bit was that PGA Tour and LIV agreement,” Rahm stated. “So when that happened, I was like, well, we are definitely coming together. There is something happening, so at least I owe it to myself to hear what they have to offer and what their vision is. I figured I owed it to myself to hear them out, which is what I did when the season was over.”
Matsuyama, in the meantime, received two weeks in the past, on the Genesis Invitational, taking pictures a nine-under 62 within the remaining spherical to win by three. Afterward apparently, he bought a observe of congratulations.
From Norman.
“When Hideki won [the Genesis Invitational] in L.A., what’s the first thing I did?” Norman informed Australian Golf Digest’s Clifton.
“I said, ‘Congratulations, Hideki. I’m proud of you, mate.’”
Editor’s observe: To learn the entire Golf Digest story — which additionally contains Norman’s ideas on Rory McIlroy — please click here.
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