British Open tells Norman: You’re not welcome here
Greg Norman once talked about playing in the British Open this week. Now he doesn't even get to attend the dinner at St. Andrews for past champions.
Norman, who won the Open at Turnberry in
1986 and at Royal St. George's in 1993, would have been eligible for the four-hole “Celebration of Champions” exhibition that takes place only at St. Andrews, along with the Champions' Dinner.
The R&A said Saturday it contacted Norman to tell him “we decided not to invite him to attend on this occasion.”
“The 150th Open is an extremely important milestone for golf and we want to ensure that the focus remains on celebrating the championship and its heritage,” the R&A said. “Unfortunately, we do not believe that would be the case if Greg were to attend.”
Norman has been viewed as a disrupter in golf as CEO of the Saudifunded LIV Golf series that is paying as much as $150 million to sign former major champions such as Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau and staging 54-hole events with a shotgun start that pay $25 million in prize money.
The PGA Tour has suspended players who have signed up for the rebel league, and the European tour is fining its players $120,000 for each LIV event they play.
Norman described the decision as “petty.”
“I’m disappointed,” he told Australian Golf Digest. “I would have thought the R&A would have stayed above it all given their position in world golf. [It’s] petty, as all I have done is promote and grow the game of golf globally, on and off the golf course, for more than four decades.”
Norman already rubbed the R&A the wrong way with an interview earlier this year with Australiabased News Corp. in which he said he was filling out his entry form for the 150th Open and “I think I can still get in.”
It led the R&A to issue a statement that said, “We have no plans for any additional exemptions.”
Norman is 67 and past Open champions are exempt only until they are 60.
His final year of eligibility was in 2015 at St. Andrews. He chose not to play, saying he hadn't practiced enough and he didn't feel right about taking a spot in the field from a younger player.
SCOTTISH OPEN
Xander Schauffele played all the right bounces and made all the key putts until the final two holes in North Berwick and then felt as though he had to settle for a twoshot lead.
Right when he was starting to pull away from the field, Schauffele closed with a pair of bogeys at The Renaissance Club that made it difficult to appreciate an otherwise stellar round.
He matched the low score of the windy day with a 4-under 66.
And then he headed straight to the range.
“I had pretty much everything going,” Schauffele said. “I was judging the bounces well and making the putts I needed to and getting up and down when I was missing the green. Six birdies through 16, no complaints. And a tough finish.”
Schauffele was at 7under 203, two ahead of Rafa Cabrera Bello of Spain, who had a 67 and boosted his hopes of getting one of three spots into the British Open.
Jordan Spieth had two eagles on the back nine, one of them with a lob wedge from just over 100 yards on the 15th hole, and had a 66 that put him right in the mix. Spieth was three shots behind in a group that included fellow Texan Ryan Palmer.
CHAMPIONS TOUR
Jerry Kelly shot a 5under 65 for a share of the third-round lead with Alex Cejka in the Bridgestone Senior Players Championship in Akron, Ohio.
The Principal Charity Classic winner last month in Iowa, the 55-year-old Kelly had six birdies and a bogey to match Cejka at 9-under 201 on Firestone Country Club’s South Course.
“No. 1, getting the ball in the fairway, so I can have control of my irons,” Kelly said. “Not trying to do too much with my iron shots, just giving myself good looks. And then the putter was better today.”
Cejka birdied four of the last five holes for a 67. The 51-year-old Czechborn German is chasing his third senior major title after winning the Regions Tradition and Senior PGA last year.
“It’s great to finish strong,” Cejka said. “I played pretty good all day long, but had a terrible start, made two stupid bogeys. Had a lot of good chances, couldn’t make a putt with great shots. It’s frustrating.”
Defending champion
Steve Stricker (68) and
Steven Alker (69) were tied for third at 7 under.
Ernie Els (69) was 6 under.
PGA TOUR
Adam Svensson shot a 5-under 67 and had a three-stroke lead in the Barbasol Championship in Nicholasville, Ky., when second-round play Friday at water-logged Keene Trace was suspended because of darkness.
Svensson had a 15under 129 total at Keene Trace, where a mid-day thunderstorm followed dense morning fog. Play was delayed a total of 5 hours, 20 minutes, with half the field unable to finish the round.
Play also proceeded slowly Saturday.