The real reason why Saudi-backing Greg Norman wants to make a stunning return at The Open
In a far from subtle ploy, Greg Norman has thrust the prospect of him making a stunning return to competition at the 2022 Open into the hands of the R&A.
However, the chances of the governing body extending a special invite to the man leading the Saudi mission to revolutionise the male professional game must be rated as only marginally greater than Piers Morgan being granted a spot in the 150th staging of the British major.
Norman, a two-time winner of the Claret Jug, grabbed headlines around the globe on Saturday with his intention to launch a comeback at the Home of Golf.
“It’s the 150th. I’m a past Open Champion. I love St Andrews. If there’s a moment in time that I would consider going back and teeing off one last time, maybe this is it,” he told News Corp. “I’m filling out my entry form now, I think I’m going. I think I can still get in.”
Norman thinks no such thing. He is and has been aware that former champions are only exempt until they turn 60. The Australian is 67. Many have taken the comments to mean he is planning on trying to make it through final qualifying, in which 400-plus players will do battle for approximately 12 berths.
But a spokesperson for Norman confirmed to Telegraph Sport that he will not appear in the 36-hole shootout for his first competitive action in a decade. Four venues will stage FQ on June 28 and 29 and that is the week of the second LIV Golf Invitational Series.
Taking place in Portland, this will be LIV’s first tournament in the US and as chief executive of the entity set up to run the Saudi’s rebel circuit, he will obviously be at what he will term a landmark week. So Norman’s only route into the Fife field will be via an invite.
There is precedent. In 2014, Tom Watson was handed a spot in Hoylake to celebrate his 65th birthday. But the five-time winner is the one and only player to receive the honour.
“The Open does not do 'special exemptions',” an insider said. “Norman knows this. He is being mischievous and attempting to make the R&A feel uncomfortable, because they have obviously sided with the PGA and European Tours in this fight when they first indicated they would remain impartial.”
In an interview with Telegraph Sport last week, Norman called the R&A “vindictive” for suddenly cancelling the exemption it traditionally gave to the winner of the Asian Tour’s order of merit. The surprise move came after LIV announced it was investing $300 million in the male game’s third-biggest circuit. Up until that point, the Saudis believed the R&A was neutral.
“It was before I had signed up, but the guys who were involved in a meeting with Martin (Slumbers, chief executive of the R&A) earlier in 2021 say they showed him the plans for a 14-event league and asked for his thoughts,” Norman told me.
“There were 10 events in the US and four in other countries. All he said was that he would make it seven and seven. Apparently, he didn’t state any opposition then. So what’s changed?”
In truth, the accusations of Saudi “sportswashing” have increased dramatically in the intervening period and the majors have clearly listened to the concerns.
With the PGA of America, custodians of the US PGA, closely aligned with the PGA Tour and the Masters and telling Norman that they would not deal with LIV until they “made it right with the Tours”, only the USGA, which runs the US Open, has remained on the fence. And that is probably only because it is a transitionary stage with a new chief executive in Mike Whan.
Norman was not given his usual invite to the Masters three weeks ago (although he was sent a grounds pass on the eve of the tournament) and recognises that he has been cast as a pariah, a role he transparently intends to use to highlight what he calls “fingfencing by the monopolists”.
It will be intriguing to discover if Norman is invited by the R&A to play in the Celebration of Champions on the Monday of Open week - a four-hole, 48-strong challenge featuring old champions including Watson.
The next day will see the Champions’ Dinner in the R&A Clubhouse, with the obligatory picture behind the 18th green. Would they dare exclude Norman from that? Certainly, he would enjoy the squirming. LIV will have staged two of its $25m tournaments by then, with the third, at Trump National Bedminster, taking place two weeks later.
The first invitational is only six weeks away and being staged at the Centurion Club in St Albans. Dual members of the PGA and DP World Tours have until Monday to submit their release requests to appear in the 54-holer from June 9-11, which at that point will be the richest single golf tournament in history.
Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood and Graeme McDowell are thought to be in the mix with a $4m first prize up for grabs and $120,000 going to the player who finishes last in the no-cut dollar-fest with a shotgun start.
