Greg Norman holds nothing back in Open assessment on first return after public snub

Controversial LIV Golf supremo Greg Norman was back at The Open on Saturday, two years after he was snubbed by the R&A.

Norman was not invited to a celebratory champions’ dinner at the 150th Open at St Andrews having been the driving force behind the launch of the Saudi-backed breakaway circuit just weeks before.

The Aussie, 69, has been blamed in some quarters for creating huge division in professional golf, but he was welcomed back into the fold at Royal Troon wearing an official R&A guest badge. It follows his appearance at Augusta National for The Masters in April when he bought a ticket and attended as a fan after not receiving an invite.

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Two-time Open champion Norman enjoyed the action from one of the many hospitality offerings at Troon and he told Golf Digest: “It’s good to be back. The Open has a lot of history for me. To me, it was the best championship of all.

“The Masters is The Masters, but I put this one up above all four of them because it is a true open. People can come and play (qualify). I love the way they rotate the host course and it’s links golf. In my professional career, I prided myself on coming back and playing the Open Championship.”

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Reflecting on not being invited two years ago, he added: “I think that was the right thing for golf, yeah. I think in the beginning there was a lot of misinterpretation of the situation.

“I love seeing the way things have settled down now. Everybody’s seen that within the ecosystem, LIV Golf has been accepted and the players deserve to be in these big championships.”

Merger negotiations between LIV’s backer, the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund, and the PGA Tour rumble on despite a framework agreement being struck 13 months ago. The proposed deal would enable the best players from the rival tours to compete against each other more often, but few details of the talks have been made public and it remains unclear when a resolution will be reached.