Immelman Explains Response To Norman’s Presidents Cup Well Wishes

LIV Golf frontman Greg Norman sent his well wishes to the International Presidents Cup team and captain Trevor Immelman with a tweet before the start of the tournament.

Norman's message included a reference to the team’s 1998 performance, where the Australian was instrumental in its only success to date. That prompted a response from Immelman, who simply said "LOL".

The South African is currently trying to improve that record at Quail Hollow, with his team facing an uphill battle going into the final two days and 8-2 behind against Davis Love’s USA. However, he still had time to elaborate on his dismissive response to Norman’s tweet. 

After the second day of the tournament, Immelman said: “Look, any of you that have known me for the longest time know that I'm an extremely open and honest person. I pretty much say it exactly as I'm thinking it. What I said was exactly what I was doing when I read that tweet. I was laughing out loud. I learned long ago that lying is dangerous because you've got to have a good memory. So I'd rather just tell the truth.”

Immelman’s preparations for the tournament were hindered by the loss of several players to LIV Golf who would otherwise have been certainties for the team, including current World No.3 Cameron Smith, Joaquin Niemann, Abraham Ancer and Louis Oosthuizen. While the 42-year-old declared he was happy with his team despite the LIV Golf absentees, he will be well aware that without the Saudi-backed venture, he would be in a stronger position to build on that success 22 years ago.   

As to his team’s chances going into the final two days, Immelman remained upbeat, saying: “We've just got to keep fighting, man. Keep putting one foot in front of the other. We feel like we've played some pretty good golf, some solid golf tee-to-green, particularly the last couple of days, but we have absolutely been out-putted. No doubt about it.”