Greg Norman fired off an open letter to PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan on Thursday, accusing him of “bullying” and asserting that he cannot legally ban players if they join a rival league.
The two-time major winner and CEO of LIV Golf scolded Monahan in the strongly worded letter that ended with this: “This is just the beginning. It certainly is not the end.”
Norman is fronting the Super Golf League (SGL), a Saudi-backed breakaway tour that reportedly is throwing large sums of money to the world’s top golfers in an effort to lure them to playing its select schedule.
But Monahan has repeatedly stated that any PGA Tour golfer who chooses to play in the SGL would receive a lifetime ban from the PGA Tour.
Norman called Monahan out on that in his letter as a likely violation of labor laws.
“Surely you jest,” Norman started the letter. “And surely, your lawyers at the PGA Tour must be holding their breath.”
Norman said players are independent contractors.
“Simply put, you can’t ban players from playing golf,” Norman writes. “Players have the right and the freedom to play where we like. I know for a fact that many PGA players were and still are interested in playing for a new league, in addition to playing for the Tour. What is wrong with that?”
Norman accused Monahan and the Tour of putting “its own financial ambitions ahead of the players, and every player on the tour knows it.”
“But when you try to bluff and intimidate players by bullying them and threatening them, you are guilty of going too far, being unfair, and you likely are in violation of the law.”
Norman cited an interview by the former chief lawyer to the Federal Trade Commission who said “lifetime bans are never going to happen,” given the “slam-dunk antitrust” lawsuits that would follow.
Norman sent a memo to golfers playing in last week’s Genesis Invitational titled “PGA Tour Cannot Ban Players Who Join LIV Golf.”
“We encourage you to request the PGA Tour provide you with these threats in writing and written opinions of its outside counsel that these bans are legal and enforceable,” Norman wrote in the memo. “It would not surprise us if the Tour is unwilling to do so.”
Monahan reportedly reiterated the Tour’s stance to golfers during a mandatory meeting Tuesday in Florida, telling any who might be considering the SGL to “walk out that door now.” He told the AP in an interview Wednesday that “anyone on the fence needs to make a decision.”
Norman says otherwise.
“But when you threaten to end players’ careers and when you engage in unfair labor practices with your web of player restrictions, you demonstrate exactly why players are open minded about joining a league that treats players well, respects them, and compensates them according to their true worth.
“Commissioner — this is just the beginning. It certainly is not the end.”
–Field Level Media