Greg Norman has branded the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews (R&A) "petty" after they decided not to invite him to any of their celebrations ahead of the 150th Open at St Andrews.
Norman won the Open twice in 1986 and 1993, but will not attend the Champions' Dinner or play in the Celebration of Champions four-hole challenge. The Australian is the CEO of the controversial LIV Golf Invitational Series, which is backed by Saudi Arabia.
The series has been derided as an attempt at sportswashing, but has tempted stars like Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka to join up due to the vast amounts of money on offer. And LIV has caused a major divide in golf, with the PGA Tour suspending all players involved in the series.
As a result, the R&A decided to bar Norman from attending any of their Open celebrations in order to "ensure that the focus remains on celebrating the Championship and its heritage".
In a statement, the R&A said: "In response to enquiries regarding The R&A Celebration of Champions field and the Champions' Dinner, we can confirm that we contacted Greg Norman to advise him that 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.
"Unfortunately, we do not believe that would be the case if Greg were to attend. We hope that when circumstances allow Greg will be able to attend again in future."
In response, Norman called the organisation "petty", telling Australian Golf Digest : "The R&A sent me a letter asking me not to attend. I'm disappointed.
"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."
