LIV Golf boss Greg Norman refutes Jon Rahm claims after PGA Tour return rumors

Greg Norman has slammed rumors suggesting Jon Rahm is itching to ditch his LIV Golf earnings to return to the PGA Tour.

A recent Golf Digest story suggested Rahm was regretting his $600 million contract with the Saudi-funded circuit , eager to reclaim his PGA Tour privileges. "I am 100 percent positive that if Jon could give the money back to the Saudis and come back to the tour, he couldn't write the check fast enough," an unnamed insider alleged.

This speculation surfaces just eight months after Rahm inked a historic agreement with the Saudi-backed league, a move that led to his PGA Tour exclusion.

Since joining LIV Golf, Rahm has pocketed around $14 million in winnings and celebrated his inaugural LIV victory at the LIV Golf UK event at JCB Golf and Country Club recently. However, amidst this week's LIV tournament at Greenbrier, whispers of Rahm's dissatisfaction have been met with a staunch rebuttal from Norman.

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Commenting during the event's second round on Saturday, LIV Golf's chief Norman retorted: "I read an article yesterday about how Jon is so unhappy here [LIV Golf] and that he wants to give back his money. It's just not true. You speak to Jon's general manager, it's like laughable. I just truly don't get it. I truly don't get the divide.

"The division is still there when we are actually showing how we do work within the ecosystem and how the ecosystem is accepting us and how the people are speaking out there. I just don't understand why it is this way. It tells you there is some deep seeded something there. But we are going to keep ploughing through it and stay true to ourselves."

The 'division' Norman speaks of pertains to the ongoing rift at golf's pinnacle between the Saudi-backed series and their PGA Tour adversaries, despite the latter being in talks with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia for a truce.

More than a year after an initial framework agreement was discussed, no deal has been finalized between the two factions. Ahead of the FedEx Cup playoffs commencement this week, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan gave an update.

"They're very complicated discussions," he admitted.

"There's a lot of elements to them. When you have the level of interaction, we're continuing to meet and move forward and discuss and debate, you can't be anything but hopeful. As it relates to times and timeframes and where we are, I'll just say we're in a good place with the conversations. That's the most important thing."