LIV boss Greg Norman dismisses Rory McIlroy $850m offer as ‘white noise’ but said that the door was always open

A report that the Northern Irishman had been subject to an offer from the Saudi-backed series was quickly dismissed as “fake news” by McIlroy’s manager after The Masters.

The four-time major winner has been a prominent critic of the breakaway LIV project, though a number of top golfers have signed up, including Jon Rahm.

And though Norman, speaking at a press conference on Wednesday ahead of LIV's event in Adelaide, was clear that no deal had been tabled, the LIV chief executive said that he would be willing to have a discussion with McIlroy if the 34-year-old was interested.

“LIV never put an offer to him,” Norman said ahead of the LIV event in Adelaide. “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? One hundred per cent, no different than any other player who would be interested in coming on and playing with us.

“It’s understanding the facts about what LIV represents and what LIV can deliver on a global basis, it’s up to you to determine it. 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.

“He said, ‘Well, that’s not what we’re told in the locker room. This is really impressive’, 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. If you’re happier over there, fine, stay there. Our door is always open; if you want to come back and have a conversation with us, happy to do that’.”

McIlroy is set to rejoin the PGA Tour’s policy board just five months after stepping down from his role as negotiations continue over a possible partnership with the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund (PIF).

A framework agreement of a potential commercial partnership was announced last June, but little progress appears to have been made towards a deal that would help re-unite golf.

Norman has no insight on how talks are going and insists his priority is on further building LIV Golf’s profile.

“Our investor wanted to invest into LIV because he loved the opportunity of the franchise model, what he could do with it and how we can build it out on a global platform,” Norman said.

“So, me specifically, I don’t know what’s going on over there. I really don’t want to know what’s going on over there because we are so fixated on growing and developing and building out what LIV is today and looking and doing our schedule for 2025 and going into 2026.

“Our responsibility is to look after our people, our players, and where we want to go. I don’t have an answer.”

Norman also stated he is open-minded about the idea of moving to a traditional 72-hole format, though he added that the Saudi-backed circuit would need to evaluate the impact of adding an extra round to its 54-hole, no-cut events.

Former Masters and US Open champion Rahm, who switched to the rebel circuit in December, has said he hoped LIV would move to a 72-hole format as it would help unite the tours.

Norman said they were open to the idea of changing the format but added that there was an "economic impact about putting television on for 72 holes".

"It's a great conversation to have," he added. "We will continue to have that conversation going forward. But we sit back and say, what value do we get on putting on television on Thursday? How do we build out in the future?

"There are things that we sit back and look at to see what is the most optimal solution to make this a better and better and better event, and 72 holes is discussed."

Rahm, speaking alongside Norman at the press conference, said there was a "level of comfort" in playing 72 holes but that any decision to change the format had to make business sense.

"At the end of the day, LIV is a business," he added.

"If it doesn't fit the product, it doesn't fit the product.

"I'm just a player. There's a lot of people that are a lot smarter than me that can figure it out and explain why they believe 54 holes may be better for them."