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In a removed from refined ploy, Greg Norman has thrust the prospect of him making a shocking return to competitors on the 2022 Open into the fingers of the R&A.
Nonetheless, the possibilities of the governing physique extending a particular invite to the person main the Saudi mission to revolutionise the male skilled recreation should be rated as solely marginally better than Piers Morgan being granted a spot within the a hundred and fiftieth staging of the British main.
Norman, a two-time winner of the Claret Jug, grabbed headlines across the globe on Saturday together with his intention to launch a comeback on the Dwelling of Golf.
“It’s the a hundred and fiftieth. I’m a previous Open Champion. I really like St Andrews. If there’s a second in time that I might think about going again and teeing off one final time, perhaps that is it,” he advised Information Corp. “I’m filling out my entry type now, I feel I’m going. I feel I can nonetheless get in.”
Norman thinks no such factor. He’s and has been conscious that former champions are solely exempt till they flip 60. The Australian is 67. Many have taken the feedback to imply he’s planning on making an attempt to make it by way of ultimate qualifying, wherein 400-plus gamers will do battle for roughly 12 berths.
However a spokesperson for Norman confirmed to Telegraph Sport that he is not going to seem within the 36-hole shootout for his first aggressive motion in a decade. 4 venues will stage FQ on June 28 and 29 and that’s the week of the second LIV Golf Invitational Sequence.
Going down in Portland, this might be LIV’s first match within the US and as chief govt of the entity set as much as run the Saudi’s insurgent circuit, he’ll clearly be at what he’ll time period a landmark week. So Norman’s solely route into the Fife area might be by way of an invitation.
There’s precedent. In 2014, Tom Watson was handed a spot in Hoylake to have a good time his sixty fifth birthday. However the five-time winner is the one and solely participant to obtain the honour.
“The Open doesn’t do ‘particular exemptions’,” an insider mentioned. “Norman is aware of this. He’s being mischievous and making an attempt to make the R&A really feel uncomfortable, as a result of they’ve clearly sided with the PGA and European Excursions on this battle after they first indicated they’d stay neutral.”
In an interview with Telegraph Sport final week, Norman referred to as the R&A “vindictive” for abruptly cancelling the exemption it historically gave to the winner of the Asian Tour’s order of advantage. The shock transfer got here after LIV introduced it was investing $300 million within the male recreation’s third-biggest circuit. Up till that time, the Saudis believed the R&A was impartial.
“It was earlier than I had signed up, however the guys who have been concerned in a gathering with Martin (Slumbers, chief govt of the R&A) earlier in 2021 say they confirmed him the plans for a 14-event league and requested for his ideas,” Norman advised me.
“There have been 10 occasions within the US and 4 in different international locations. All he mentioned was that he would make it seven and 7. Apparently, he didn’t state any opposition then. So what’s modified?”
In reality, the accusations of Saudi “sportswashing” have elevated dramatically within the intervening interval and the majors have clearly listened to the considerations.
With the PGA of America, custodians of the US PGA, carefully aligned with the PGA Tour and the Masters and telling Norman that they’d not cope with LIV till they “made it proper with the Excursions”, solely the USGA, which runs the US Open, has remained on the fence. And that’s in all probability solely as a result of it’s a transitionary stage with a brand new chief govt in Mike Whan.
Norman was not given his traditional invite to the Masters three weeks in the past (though he was despatched a grounds go on the eve of the match) and recognises that he has been forged as a pariah, a job he transparently intends to make use of to focus on what he calls “fingfencing by the monopolists”.
Will probably be intriguing to find if Norman is invited by the R&A to play within the Celebration of Champions on the Monday of Open week – a four-hole, 48-strong problem that includes previous champions together with Watson.
The subsequent day will see the Champions’ Dinner within the R&A Clubhouse, with the compulsory image behind the 18th inexperienced. Would they dare exclude Norman from that? Actually, he would benefit from the squirming. LIV could have staged two of its $25m tournaments by then, with the third, at Trump Nationwide Bedminster, happening two weeks later.
The primary invitational is barely six weeks away and being staged on the Centurion Membership in St Albans. Twin members of the PGA and DP World Excursions have till Monday to submit their launch requests to seem within the 54-holer from June Sept. 11, which at that time would be the richest single golf match in historical past.
Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood and Graeme McDowell are regarded as within the combine with a $4m first prize up for grabs and $120,000 going to the participant who finishes final within the no-cut dollar-fest with a shotgun begin.
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