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A WhatsApp message conversation between Sergio Garcia and Greg Norman was uncovered amid 11 LIV golfers’ antitrust lawsuit against the PGA Tour.
As explained by Golf Magazine’s Dylan Dethier, the text conversation was Exhibit 6 in the legal document opposing the suspension of players from participating in the LIV Golf Tour.
In the interview, Garcia expresses concern about the Tour’s threats of life bans and confirms that young players were concerned by the guidelines laid down by commissioner Jay Monahan.
Norman, 67, seemed confident the suspensions were just verbal warnings without substance until players’ agents gathered in February and said the lifetime bans were real.
“They can’t ban you for a day, let alone for life,” Norman told Garcia confidently after the Spaniard doubted the LIV golf schedule would be able to attract top players in these conditions.
Interesting to see how adamantly Norman (with Sergio in these lyrics) insisted that the PGA Tour would not and could not suspend players.
“They can’t ban you for a day, let alone for life.” pic.twitter.com/foSDSIOg2L
— Dylan Dethier (@dylan_dethier) August 5, 2022
As you can see in the news above, Norman was keen to get the threats down on paper. These messages suggest that LIV Golf is confident on the courses.
Although Garcia verbally expressed his displeasure with the PGA Tour at the Wells Fargo Championship and resigned his membership, Garcia has elected to retain his DP World Tour membership, which qualifies him for the Ryder Cup.
Since that conversation, LIV has managed to bring on a slew of big champions and familiar faces like Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau and Patrick Reed.
The antitrust lawsuit found Phil Mickelson was suspended from the PGA Tour back in March for allegedly trying to recruit players for the Saudi-backed series.
Matt Jones, Talor Gooch and Hudson Swafford face a court hearing Tuesday in California to determine if they will return to the FedEx Cup ladder.
