Martin Slumbers, chief executive of the R&A, wants to talk about 150 years of the Open. He wants to tell you all about the four years they’ve spent planning their sesquicentennial celebrations, the million-plus ticket applications, the record crowd of 290,000 and the 20,000 free tickets for kids. He would really like to let you know all about how much the R&A invests into the grassroots of the game, the latest participation figures and the surge in popularity after the end of the pandemic. The one thing he doesn’t want to talk about is the one thing everyone else does. LIV.
On Wednesday, Slumbers explained why the R&A had refused to invite the LIV Series’ ringman Greg Norman to take part in this week’s ceremonies even though Norman, who was presumably listed as officially “NFI” on the start list for the little four-hole Celebration of Champions tournament they held here on Monday, won the Open in 1986 and 1993. “This is a very important week for golf. This is the oldest championship. It’s the original championship,” Slumbers said. “We decided that we didn’t want the distraction.”
