by Greg Norman made a surprise appearance at the Masters on Wednesday as a paying customer and expressed his disappointment that more of his LIV players were not invited to the first major season.
Sports telegraph It was revealed on Tuesday that a high-ranking LIV official was set to drop in, but no one expected it to be the chief executive who has such a history with Masters with three second-in-commands.
With negotiations taking place between the PGA Tour and the Saudi Public Investment Fund – which puts the bank on the LIV program – it is clear that tensions have melted, although he has informed Norman to enter the grounds as a member of the community, without any access to the inner sanctums of the community. a clubhouse where the game’s power brokers gather annually.
Norman was not invited last year, to tell Sports telegraph: “I’ve always been a big hitter before, but they only sent me a land pass last year and nothing, zilch, this time around. I’m disappointed because it’s so small but of course I’ll still be watching.”
He was seen here, wearing his trademark fedora while looking at the Great White Shark logo. “I’m here because we have 13 players who have won 10 Masters between them,” Norman told the Washington Post. “So I’m just here to support them, do my best to show them, ‘Hey, you know, the boss is here rooting for you.'”
Norman believes that more of the rebels should be in the field. “I think there’s probably a few that were overlooked that should be in,” Norman said. “What’s that number? I’m not going to give him a definitive number, but they are top players who have produced incredible performances in the last six or nine months and it’s worth it.”
His comments were well timed. Earlier, in the middle of the media, Augusta chairman Fred Ridley told LIV players who were wronged not to play here that they would have been invited if they were good enough.
Talor Gooch, last year’s LIV champion, was so scared to lose in the first major of the season that he claimed Sunday’s winner should have an asterisk to his name. But Ridley dismissed the notion with a thin dig at the quality of the isolated circuit.
“I will say that if we felt that a player or players, whether they played on the LIV Tour or any other tour, deserved an invitation to the Masters, we would make that choice in terms of special invitations,” Ridley at his annual state of the game press conference.
Ridley pointed out that Augusta invited an LIV player this year in Joaquin Niemann after the Chilean won the Australian Open and finished in the top four at the Dubai Desert Classic in January. Gooch’s situation was complicated by the fact that the Masters have a habit of only giving special invitations to international players.
Ridley is on the board of the Official Golf World Rankings, which last year refused LIV’s request to grant status, meaning that the rebel players do not have access to points and therefore it would be almost impossible to rise into the world’s top 50 .
Because of this, LIV believes that the wardens should give exemptions to their money list. But Ridley all but shut this down. “At the moment we use the Official World Golf Rankings,” he said. “We believe it’s a legitimate decision on who the best players are in the game. There has been public communication about the LIV application, you know, which was subsequently withdrawn after a number of improvement proposals were made in relation to footpaths and player access and concerns about some aspects of the team’s golf.
“I think it’s going to be difficult to set up any kind of points system that has anything to do with the rest of the golf world because they’re basically a closed shop, not completely, but for the most part. There is some relegation, but not much. It all depends on the new player they sign.”
Norman: ‘LIV is focused on delivering what we promised the world’
Ridley also confirmed that the club supports plans by the two governing bodies – the T&A and the US Golf Association – to introduce restrictions to limit how far the ball can travel. The PGA Tour has said it opposes the new regulations that will be introduced in 2028. By revising the speed at which the balls are tested, the pros will lose up to 20 yards with their drivers.
“I’ve said in the past that I hope we don’t play the Masters at 8,000 yards but that’s probably in the not-too-distant future by current standards,” Ridley said. “Accordingly, we support the decisions made by the R&A and the USGA as they address the impact of distance at all levels of the game.”
Ridley urged the Tour to accept the proposals. “I certainly hope they will, if it wouldn’t cause a lot of stress in the game that it doesn’t need at the moment,” he said.
Goodness knows which way LIV and Norman will jump on the ball issue. They are likely to adopt the populist attitude if their remarks on the final day of practice are any measure.
“When you walk around here today, no one has said to me, ‘Why did you do LIV?'” he said. “I’ve had hundreds of people, even security people, stop me and say, ‘Hey, what you’re doing is amazing.’ To me, that tells you that what we have and the platform fits within the ecosystem, and it’s good for the game of golf.”
Norman is not involved in the negotiations but claimed he was happy with that exclusion. “LIV is independent in that respect, to be honest with you,” said Norman. “I’m not honest in any of the conversations, which I’m happy about because we’re focused on delivering what we promised to the world that we’re going to provide.”
