Greg Norman claims hundreds of patrons stopped him at the Masters on Wednesday to praise LIV Golf.
The Australian is the face of the Saudi-backed league which rivals the PGA Tour and is an incredibly divisive figure. Norman spearheads the organisation which has seen the likes of major winners Jon Rahm, Brooks Koepka and Phil Mickelson all join for huge sums of money.
Following the controversy of LIV’s inception, Norman was not invited to the Masters last year. The 69-year-old’s three runner-up finishes at Augusta National and two-time wins at The Open seemingly did not matter.
A year on and Norman found his way into the course but as a ticketed patron. And, according to the LIV chief himself, he was causing quite a stir among the patrons and members of security out on the course.
“Walking around here today, there’s not one person who said to me, ‘Why did you do LIV?’ he told the Washington Post. “There’s been hundreds of people, even security guys, stopping me, saying, ‘Hey, what you’re doing is fantastic.’
“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.”
Rather than to ruffle any feathers, Norman claims he was there to support his members of LIV. He added: “I’m here because we have 13 players that won ten Masters between them,” he said. “I’m here just to support them, do the best I can to show them, ‘Hey, you know, the boss is here rooting for you.’
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“There’s probably a couple that have been overlooked that should be in. What is that number? I’m not going to give it a definitive number, but they’re definitely quality players that have done incredible performances over the last six to nine months that are worthy of it.”
Last year, Masters chief Fred Ridley explained Norman was snubbed to ensure focus remained on the golf and not the civil war politics plaguing the game at the time.
“We did not extend an invitation to Mr. Norman,” said Ridley. “The primary issue and the driver there is that I want the focus this week to be on the Masters competition, on the great players that are participating, the greatest players in the world, which, by our decision in December, we ensured that we were going to honour and be consistent with our invitation criteria.
“I would also add that, in the last ten years, Greg Norman has only been here twice, and I believe one of those was as a commentator for Sirius Radio. It really was to keep the focus on the competition.”
