'Hang Your Head In Shame' - Major Winner Slams Norman

Greg Norman has been branded an “absolute disgrace” by fellow former Australian golf star Wayne Grady ahead of the launch of the LIV Golf Invitational Series. The 1990 PGA Championship winner took to social media to accuse the Great White Shark of spending the last 30 years “trying to take down the PGA Tour”, before signing off, “GFY Shark”.

Grady said he’d been surrounded by “true professional golfers who believe in loyalty and history” the previous day at a memorial service for another Australian golfer, Jack Newton, but Norman, who he has known for 50 years, is only looking out for himself.

“Greg is only about Greg,” said Grady. "The admiration I had for him 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. You should hang your head in shame Shark.”

The first LIV Golf Invitational Series is set to get underway at Centurion Club in Hertfordshire on June 9th, although who will actually play still largely remains a mystery, with both the PGA Tour declining to release its members, and the DP World Tour reportedly doing the same.

Criticism of the Saudi-backed Series has grown louder in recent days, with Norman forced to field questions on the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, Saudi Arabia’s human rights record and its policy of so-called ‘sports washing’, at last week’s media day at Centurion Club. After Norman’s clumsily-worded response to the Khashoggi killing, he came under fire from Amnesty International, and LIV were forced to put out a statement underlining their stance and their hope that golf could do some good and make some positive change.

When asked about the murder of Saudi journalist Khashoggi, Norman had said: “"Everybody has owned up to it, right? It has been spoken about, from what I've read, going on what you guys reported. Take ownership, no matter what it is. Look, we've all made mistakes and you just want to learn from those mistakes and how you can correct them going forward."

Among the players set to take part are Sergio Garcia, Lee Westwood, Richard Bland, Martin Kaymer and Phil Mickelson, who have all publicly requested permission to play at Centurion next month.