The R&A has become the first of golf’s governing bodies to speak out strongly against the LIV Series, with the chief executive, Martin Slumbers, using media duties on the eve of the 150th Open Championship to brand the rebel tour as “not in the best long-term interests of the sport”. Slumbers inferred it will become difficult for LIV participants to qualify for future stagings of the world’s oldest major.
LIV themes have dominated the Open buildup after Greg Norman, who fronts the Saudi Arabia-backed tour, was not invited to past champion events at St Andrews. Phil Mickelson, a high-profile LIV convert, was another notable absentee.
