Greg Norman accuses PGA Tour of ‘bullying’ players with rival league ban threat

Greg Norman has written an open letter to PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan, accusing him of “bullying” players with “unenforceable” threats of a lifetime ban if they join a rival league.

In a meeting with players earlier this week, Monahan reiterated that those who joined the proposed Saudi-backed circuit, which is being spearheaded by former world number one Norman, would be banned by the PGA Tour.

That looked something of a moot point with Rory McIlroy describing the breakaway as “dead in the water” after Dustin Johnson and Bryson DeChambeau pledged their future to the PGA Tour in the wake of Phil Mickelson’s explosive comments about the new venture.

“Commissioner – this is just the beginning. It certainly is not the end.”

Greg Norman’s letter to PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan: pic.twitter.com/Y6iuJ3sVz0

— Golfweek (@golfweek) February 24, 2022

However, Brooks Koepka conceded on Wednesday that some players would still “sell out” and join the breakaway and Norman insists “this is just the beginning” at the end of his 500-word letter.

The letter reads: “Dear Commissioner Monahan: Surely you jest. And surely, your lawyers at the PGA Tour must be holding their breath.

“As has been widely reported, you have threatened the players on the PGA Tour, all of whom are independent contractors, with lifetime bans if they decide to play golf in a league sponsored by anyone other than the Tour.

“For decades, I have fought for the rights of players to enjoy a career in which they are rewarded fully and properly for their efforts. They are one-in-a-million athletes.

“Yet for decades, the Tour has put its own financial ambitions ahead of the players, and every player on the tour knows it. The Tour is the Players Tour not your