NORMAN UNWANTED AT BRITISH
Greg Norman once talked about playing in the British Open next 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 disruptor in golf as CEO of the Saudi-funded LIV Golf series that is paying as much as $150 million to sign former major champions like Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau and staging 54-hole events with a shotgun start that pays $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 100,000 pounds ($120,000) for each LIV event they play.
Norman already rubbed the R&A the wrong way with an interview earlier this year with Australia-based 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.
Woods plays St. Andrews
After Tiger Woods ripped his tee shot down the 18th fairway during a practice round at the Old Course at St. Andrews on Sunday, Justin Thomas followed his ball in the air and said, “Oooh!”
When Woods’ ball bounded down the sun-baked fairway and bounced high onto the green, Thomas added, “Boing!” Woods, a two-time winner of The Open at St. Andrews (2000 and 2005), ended up driving the green, leaving an eagle putt short and tapping in for his third birdie of the round. He also had birdies on the par-4 seventh and par-3 eighth, on which he stuck his tee shot to about 5 feet.
It was an encouraging start for Woods, five days before the start of the 150th Open Championship.
It was the first time this year that Woods played a full 18-hole practice round before a major. At the Masters in April and the PGA Championship in May, Woods played nine-hole practice rounds leading up to the tournaments to preserve his strength. Woods and Thomas also walked 18 holes Saturday night, chipping and putting along the way. They were on the course until shortly after 10:30 p.m. local time.
Woods declined to talk with reporters after Sunday’s practice round. He is scheduled to talk to the media today and Tuesday.
“He was struggling early, but came on as the day went on,” Woods’ caddie, Joe LaCava, told ESPN. “That’s encouraging.”