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Golf Monthly
Golf Monthly
Sport
Paul Higham

Will Greg Norman Be At The Masters This Year?

Greg Norman at the LIV Golf Team Championship at Trump National Doral.

Will the fact that the PGA Tour has entered into talks with the Saudi Arabia PIF mean that LIV Golf boss Greg Norman will be invited to attend The Masters this year?

Could the fact that defending Masters champion Jon Rahm now plays in the LIV Golf League also mean the commissioner is able to walk down Magnolia Lane again?

The Australian didn't get to see Rahm pull on the Green Jacket in person last year, as he did not get his regular invite to Augusta National as a past Major champion.

Organisers said Norman's lack of invite was to maintain the focus of the week remains The Masters and what happens on the course, and they may well feel that in that regard not much has changed 12 months later - with 13 LIV Golfers in the Masters field.

The relationship between Norman and Augusta National may not be the best right now either, after he called their decision last year "petty" when he learned of it.

“Funnily enough, I haven’t been invited,” Norman told Telegraph Sport last year. “As a Major winner I always was before, but they only sent me a grounds pass last year and nothing, zilch, this time around.

"I’m disappointed because it’s so petty but of course I’ll still be watching.”

Fred Ridley, CEO of Augusta National, explained their decision last year, and also countered Norman's perceived outrage but pointing out that he was hardly a regular attendee anyway.

"We did not extend an invitation to Mr. Norman," Ridley confirmed.

Last year's Masters champion Jon Rahm is now a LIV Golf player (Image credit: Getty Images)

"The primary issue and the driver there is that I want the focus this week to be on the Masters competition.

"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."

Norman, one of the best players to never win The Masters, must still have nightmares about Augusta National anyway given his meltdown at the 1996 event when blowing a six-shot lead to lose to Nick Faldo.

You just know, though, that Norman would love to be there in and around the 18th green should Rahm, Brooks Koepka or another one of his LIV Golf stable be hoisting the trophy and slipping on the Green Jacket.

(Image credit: LIV Golf)

Norman even said last year that every LIV golfer in the field would congregate on the 18th should one of them win The Masters - which with Rahm now joining them increases those chances.

The sight of the Great White Shark, no doubt dressed head-to-toe in LIV Golf merchandise, strolling around Augusta celebrating a win for one of his boys would be exactly the kind of headline making that makes him such an ideal figurehead for the Saudi-backed league.

Those are exactly the type of headlines that Augusta feared last year when not extending Norman an invitation though, so they will likely avoid it this time around too.

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