‘I Begged Greg Norman’ – Daly On His LIV Golf Dream

John Daly has expressed his support for the LIV Golf Invitational Series, and revealed how he was desperate for frontman Greg Norman to let him sign up.

Speaking to Piers Morgan Uncensored, the 56-year-old told the host: “I begged Greg Norman to let me be on the LIV tour because, you know, we work really hard and I played with Brian Harman in the practice rounds and some other guys in the practice rounds of the British Open and it’s like, we play pro-ams, we get it, OK, that is what is the backbone of a lot of our tournaments. 

VIDEO: THINGS YOU DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT JOHN DALY

"As Brian Harman says: 'Give us a box of chocolates for the effort.' I play two to three pro-ams every week on the Champions Tour and, you know, we don’t play for a lot of money on the Champions Tour so I almost feel like, 'OK, I’m not getting a lot out of this, what are we doing?'"

Daly explained that lack of compensation for participation in the pro-ams is one thing that separates the Series from the Champions Tour. He said: “Look, I’d rather play with amateurs than pros sometimes, but, you know, we’ve got to get compensated for that and the LIV tour has given players that. You know, they play pro-ams, it’s a big party, they play for a lot of money which these guys who are on that tour deserve that money, and I think there’s a lot of other guys that deserve that money, especially this old man!”

The American then moved on to what he sees as hypocrisy over the reaction to the Saudi-backed Series, which has faced accusations of sportswashing amid the country’s appalling human rights record. He said: “It’s unbelievable. The politics is so stupid in this. I could talk about Nike, I could talk about other companies and little eight and 13-year-olds building shoes for Nike. OK, we don’t want to get into that, right? You want to talk about labour laws, we’re talking about golf - guys that are playing golf. It’s an international sport.”

Daly then returned to his original point – namely, his desire to be involved in the Series, even in a non-playing capacity. He said: “Greg said he’s not doing any more and I’m too old, so... but let me go into entertainment and let my friends do all the concerts and stuff. Playing with Bryson DeChambeau in the Open Championship was an eye-opener because he said: 'It’s the greatest thing on earth. We still play a pro-am – it’s two pros, two amateurs.  That’s what it should be anyway, you’re done in four hours and we play for a lot of money which we deserve to play for.'"

DeChambeau, who is currently suspended by the PGA Tour for playing in the Series, said recently that the situation "doesn't make sense" and that "it will get figured out". Daly then expressed similar sentiments, saying he hopes harmony returns to top level of the game. He said: “I wish every tour could get along where everything could work out because golf is such a great game.”