Tiger Woods has previously made no secret of the fact that he believes that Greg Norman is an obstacle to a deal between the PGA Tour and the PIF.
Of course, LIV Golf has more than upset the apple cart since its arrival in 2022. And it is Greg Norman who has played the role of disruptor in chief, with the Australian acting as CEO for the league.
Tiger Woods has been a key figure on the PGA Tour side of talks. And Woods previously said that Norman needed to go before a deal could be reached. Norman has confirmed that he will be moving on from his CEO role in the near future.
Norman has not endeared himself to the golfing establishment anyway. But perhaps Woods’ animosity towards the Shark goes back even further.
What Greg Norman did after Tiger Woods won the Masters in 2019
Woods was emerging onto the international stage towards the end of Norman’s career. His final win on the PGA Tour came in 1997 – the same year as Woods’ remarkable triumph at the Masters.
It was also at Augusta National where Woods’ most recent major win came, as he won in 2019 to secure major number 15. It was a moment the entire golfing world appeared desperate to embrace as, unlike his US Open win in 2008, there was very much an awareness that he may not win another of the sport’s four biggest events.
Norman was one of those who reached out to Woods. However, as he told Men’s Health that same year, he initially heard nothing back.
“Very few people know this: when Tiger won the Masters this year, I wrote him a handwritten note and drove down my road, maybe a quarter of a mile, and hand-delivered it to his guard at his gate. I said, ‘Hey, this is Greg Norman here. I’ve got a note for Tiger – can you please hand-deliver it to him?’ Well, I never heard a word back from the guy,” he said.
“When I won my first major championship, Jack Nicklaus was the first person to walk down out of the TV tower and congratulate me. I don’t know – maybe Tiger just dislikes me. I have no idea. I’ve never had a conversation with him about it. I’ve always been respectful about what his father did for him. I played nine holes with him at his father’s and IMG’s request when Tiger was 14 or 15 and I was the No. 1 player in the world, to give an assessment of this kid. So, I have always been willing.”
How Woods secured major number 15 at the Masters
Few would have imagined that Woods would go more than a decade after that win in 2008. And given that he started the final round at Augusta two shots back of Francesco Molinari, many would have been refusing to allow themselves to think about the prospect of Woods winning.
It was only on the 12th hole where the Italian would be joined at the top by Woods. And his challenge would end with a double bogey on the 15th.
The birdies Woods would make on 15 and 16 allowed him to put one arm in the green jacket once again. It also allowed him to enjoy that walk up 18 that little bit more, with anything better than a double bogey good enough to get him across the line.
Given that it appeared to bring the sporting world to a standstill, it is probably not a surprise that Woods did not respond to all of those who congratulated him. But clearly, Norman felt that it was poor form from arguably the greatest to ever play the game.
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