Greg Norman was one of the best golfers of his generation and the fact that he only won two major championships was hugely surprising, given his talent.
Norman could have easily won five or six majors throughout his career, but he was either on the wrong end of extraordinary shots, like Larry Mize’s hole-out at Augusta National in 1987 or he was the architect of his own downfall – see his collapse in 1996 at The Masters when Nick Faldo won.
However, throughout his playing career, the 70-year-old was a popular player with the fans due to his aggressive, risk-taking approach to playing golf.
However, the Australian seemingly ruined his legacy in the game after he spearheaded the inception of LIV Golf in 2022.
The two-time Open champion has now left his role as LIV’s CEO but he still speaks very highly of the Saudi-backed outfit.
Norman recently called Jack Nicklaus a ‘hypocrite’ after the 18-time major champion’s derogatory comments about LIV Golf.
The Australian has endured plenty of criticism himself, but he never backs down from firing back at his naysayers.
However, one of his good friends turned on him a few years ago, and that must have hurt Norman.
Why Greg Norman was labeled as a disgrace by Australian major champion
Norman drew huge criticism for his involvement in the formation of LIV Golf back in 2022.
However, one of Norman’s oldest friends really raised some eyebrows with his stinging criticism of the two-time major winner.
Wayne Grady, the 1990 PGA Championship winner, took to his Facebook account and absolutely let rip on Norman.
He said: “From someone who has known Greg for 50 years, Greg is only about Greg. He has been trying to take down the PGA Tour for 30 years. “The admiration I had for what he has achieved and what he did for Australian golf is gone. 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,” he added. “You should hang your head in shame, Shark.”
Grady made a great point there. Was Norman really keen to ‘grow the game’ by pioneering LIV Golf’s inception?
Or was it more to do with the fact that he had been trying to bring down the PGA Tour for three decades?
Grady clearly had his opinion on the matter and it’s fair to say that the 1990 PGA Champion’s view is one which is shared by many within professional golfing circles.
Greg Norman proposed a new golf tour to rival the PGA Tour in 1994
In 2022, Norman’s involvement in the inception of a fledgling golf tour was nothing new.
He tried to form a new Tour back in 1994 – The World Golf Tour.
His plan for the Tour was to hold eight big-purse events throughout the year featuring the game’s 40 highest-ranked players.
However, Arnold Palmer spoke out against Norman’s proposal, suggesting that the move wouldn’t have been in the best interest of the game.
To which Nick Price responded by saying: “The King had spoken, and everyone listened.”
So it should have been no surprise 28 years later when LIV Golf was formed. However, ‘The Shark’ still received huge criticism.
Rory McIlroy was one of Norman’s fiercest critics after LIV’s inception in 2022.
Following his 21st PGA Tour win at the RBC Canadian Open in June 2022 – one which saw him surpass Norman’s tally – McIlroy took a swipe at the Australian.
“I had extra motivation of what’s going on across the pond,“ said McIlroy.
“The guy that’s spearheading that tour has 20 wins on the PGA Tour and I was tied with him and I wanted to get one ahead of him. And I did.“
He added: “So that was really cool for me – just a little sense of pride on that one.
“This is a day I’ll remember for a long, long time.“
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