Greg Norman had a big gripe with Patrick Reed back in 2017.
Norman was a fantastic player in his day – unquestionably one of the best, in fact.
However, his popularity plummeted after his comments pertaining to his role in LIV Golf‘s inception and his flippant remarks about the assassination of Saudi Arabian journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Reed will be able to relate to Norman when it comes to not getting much love from golf fans.
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“For him to try and trivialise what the greats before him did to grow and create what the PGA Tour is today is an absolute disgrace. You should hang your head in shame, Shark.”
Wayne Grady
“Let me just sum this up with a couple of words. First of all, Greg Norman is an icon in the game of golf. He’s a great player. We’ve been friends for a long time, and regardless of what happens, he’s going to remain a friend. Unfortunately, he and I just don’t see eye to eye in what’s going on [with LIV]. I’ll basically leave it at that.”
Jack Nicklaus
“Greg needs to go; he needs to exit stage left. He’s made his mark but I think now is the right time to say you’ve got this thing off the ground but no one’s going to talk unless there’s an adult in the room that can actually try to mend fences.”
Rory McIlroy
The 35-year-old American has never endeared himself to the public due to his perceived aloof attitude and some of his cocky and brash statements in the past.
Jordan Spieth once said Reed receives more abuse from golf fans than any other player.
While Norman didn’t experience poor treatment from the fans during his playing days, he has certainly been given a taste of it over the past few years.
Patrick Reed’s bizarre admission which stunned Greg Norman
The 70-year-old received huge backlash for the pioneering role he played in the formation of LIV Golf in 2022.
His fellow Australian golfer Wayne Grady told Norman to ‘hang his head in shame’ due to his exploits with LIV Golf.
So, it’s fair to say that Norman knows all too well about what it’s like to be on the wrong end of stinging criticism.
However, back in 2017, it was Norman who was aiming the criticism at Reed, after the American made an admission that genuinely stunned the Australian.
The 2018 Masters champion said: “I’ve been fighting a lot of equipment at the beginning of this year and I feel like I’ve made strides in my golf game to improve on mechanics and putting stroke and all that kind of stuff.
“And this past week it feels like I finally got over that hump to fine-tune and get all the equipment exactly where it needs to be.
“Lies and lofts were off on the irons two to two and a half degrees.“
Norman couldn’t quite believe what he was hearing from Reed, and he responded in a typically no-nonsense fashion.
How Greg Norman reacted to Patrick Reed’s comments on his clubs
The man known as ‘The Shark’ couldn’t believe what he was hearing when Reed blamed the loft and lies on his clubs for his poor form.
Norman explained how Reed’s comments genuinely baffled him, as quoted by CNN.
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He explained: “We knew our games so well, we knew our equipment so well.
“Then today you read about stuff like Patrick Reed. How the hell can you take a brand new set of golf clubs out on to the course without even knowing that the lie angle was bad, the divots, the ball flight or anything.
“That blows my mind and he’s a top player.”
Norman makes a great point about Reed here.
Players at the very top of the game these days are so used to having absolutely everything done for them that they lack the instinct and nous to know when something is wrong with their equipment.
Reed’s error was solved in the end but he surely should have noticed the manufacturing error long before he actually did.
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