The Open: Greg Norman “spotted” at Royal Troon

LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman is on-site at The 152nd Open. 

First reported by Golf Digest’s Evin Priest, the R&A extended the Australian the same invite and privileges received by all other past champions.

Norman is in the UK ahead of next week’s LIV Golf event at JCB Golf & Country Club in Staffordshire.

The 69-year-old famously missed out on winning the Claret Jug at Royal Troon in 1989 when Mark Calcavecchia beat him in a playoff for the Claret Jug.

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Norman was famously disinvited by the R&A from The 150th Open in 2022, who feared that his presence in St Andrews – just a month after LIV staged its first-ever event – would overshadow the milestone championship.

The two-time Open champion made headlines in April when he appeared on the grounds at Augusta National after buying tickets for the Masters through the secondary market.

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“It’s good to be back,” Norman told Priest. “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.”

He added: “I think in the beginning there was a lot of I guess misinterpretation of the situation [LIV Golf’s divide with the PGA Tour]. 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.”

Michael McEwan is bunkered's Head of Content and has been part of the team since 2004. In that time, he has interviewed almost every major figure within the sport, from Jack Nicklaus, to Rory McIlroy, to Donald Trump. The host of the multi award-winning bunkered Podcast and a member of Balfron Golfing Society, Michael is the author of three books and is the 2023 PPA Scotland 'Writer of the Year' and 'Columnist of the Year'. Dislikes white belts, yellow balls and iron headcovers. Likes being drawn out of the media ballot to play Augusta National.

Head of Content