Greg Norman, the mastermind behind the Saudi Arabia-led breakaway golf league, has issued a defiant message following a huge hit to the contentious plans over the past week.
The plans have been met with plenty of criticism from golfers, and fans alike, as LIV Golf Investments - the Saudi-backed company funding the series - try to entice the world's best players to ditch the PGA and European Tour.
Reports suggested that they were trying to lure DeChambeau to compete in the series with an eye-watering £100million offer, however, he, along with some of his fellow top rivals, have shunned the interest.
Just hours after Dustin Johnson snubbed the league, DeChambeau confirmed he had rejected the advance s too in a written statement.
The American duo joined the likes of Rory McIlroy, Tiger Woods, Jon Rahm, Brooks Koepka and Collin Morikawa to have pledged their allegiance to the PGA Tour despite Norman's advances.
Phil Mickelson's name, however, remains front and centre of the debate, having recently revealed his plans to use the Saudi-led series to gain leverage from the PGA Tour.
This was met by fierce criticism, with McIlroy labelling the six-time Grand Slam champion's comments as 'naive, selfish, egotistical, ignorant', while adding that the Saudi Golf League plans were 'dead in the water'.
But despite the plans looking in tatters, Norman insisted it is 'not the end' as he responded to PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan's reassertion that players would be banned from competing on his tour if they signed up to the deal with the Saudis.
In an open letter to Monahan, Norman started with a threat regarding the stance over the ban: "Surely you jest. And surely your lawyers at the PGA Tour must be holding their breath.
"As has been widely reported, you have threatened the players on the PGA Tour, all of whom are independent contractors, with lifetime bans if they decide to play golf in a league sponsored by anyone other than the Tour.
"For decades, I have fought for the rights of players to enjoy a career in which they are rewarded fully and properly for their efforts. They are one-in-a-million athletes. Yet for decades, the Tour has put its own financial ambitions ahead of the players, and every player on the tour knows it. The Tour is the players’ tour not your administration’s Tour.
Norman continued: 'When you try to bluff and intimidate players by bullying and threatening them, you are guilty of going too far, being unfair, and you likely are in violation of the law. Simply put, you can’t ban players from playing golf. Players have the right and the freedom to play where we like.
"What is wrong with allowing players to make their own decisions about where to play and how often to play? What is so wrong with player choice? Why do you feel so threatened that you would resort to such a desperate, unwise, and unenforceable threat?"
He then ended his letter by saying: "Commissioner – this is just the beginning. It certainly is not the end."
The PGA Tour said they aren't planning to comment on Norman's quotes when contacted by Mirror Sport.
