LIV Golf commissioner Greg Norman was noticed on the grounds of Augusta Nationwide on Wednesday, a 12 months after the Australian was publicly snubbed by the Masters organisers.
Norman, who received two British Opens throughout his taking part in profession and completed tied for second on the Masters on three occassions within the Eighties has been the general public face of the management of the Saudi-backed LIV tour.
Whereas all of the heads of the world’s fundamental golf excursions had been invited final 12 months, Norman was not included on the visitor listing, a call which he had described as “petty”.
However the 69-year-old was noticed among the many crowd at Wednesday’s observe session by the Washington Publish who mentioned he was there as a ticketed spectator.
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Norman’s pugnacious management of LIV, who’ve recruited quite a lot of prime stars from the established PGA Tour, has made him a divisive determine however he mentioned he had acquired a heat welcome from followers.
“Strolling round right here as we speak, there’s not one one who mentioned to me, ‘Why did you do LIV?’ ” he instructed the Publish.
“There’s been a whole bunch of individuals, even safety guys, stopping me, saying, ‘Hey, what you’re doing is incredible.’ To me, that tells you that what now we have and the platform matches inside the ecosystem, and it’s good for the sport of golf,” he added.
On his stroll across the grounds, Norman stopped to speak with Australian participant Min Woo Lee, who performs on the PGA Tour.
There are 13 gamers from the LIV circuit taking part in within the Masters this week together with defending champion Jon Rahm of Spain.
Final 12 months, Augusta Nationwide Golf Membership chairman Fred Ridley mentioned that Norman had not been invited as a result of he would have been a distration in the course of the match.
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“We didn’t lengthen an invite to Mr. Norman. The first subject and the driving force there may be that I need the main focus this week to be on the Masters competitors, on the good gamers which can be taking part, the best gamers on the planet,” he mentioned.
Ridley struck a extra conciliatory tone throughout his handle to the media on Wednesday and the temper has shifted inside the sport since June’s ‘framework settlement’ between the PGA Tour and LIV.
Additionally noticed strolling the course on Wednesday was John Henry, proprietor of the Boston Pink Sox baseball group and Premier League soccer membership Liverpool.
Henry is Principal Proprietor of Fenway Sports activities Group and supervisor of the Strategic Sports activities Group who’ve entered into a significant settlement with the PGA Tour.
In March, Henry was one in every of quite a lot of buyers from SSG who invested $1.5 billion to create PGA Tour Enterprises, a for-profit wing of the tour which goals to develop new industrial alternatives.
STORM, WINDS COULD DELAY START TO FIRST ROUND’S ACTION
Moist climate might delay the opening spherical of the Masters, with a storm forecast for the Augusta space on Thursday [Friday AEST] when this 12 months’s match begins.
That’s in keeping with Climate.com, which is anticipating thunderstorms, a 100 per cent likelihood of rain and winds between 15 and 25 miles per hour.
The forecast has already prompted the Masters to delay all gate openings within the morning, with free parking closed till additional discover too.
The climate is predicted to considerably clear up within the early afternoon at round 2pm, when it’s tipped to largely be cloudy with a small likelihood of rain and winds of round 17mph.
Earlier than then although, thunderstorms are forecast from the early hours of the morning up till 11am, which means there might be a protracted anticipate some gamers with the primary tee time at present scheduled for 8am native time.
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The Masters match committee launched a climate forecast on Thursday morning [AEST], suggesting as a lot as two-and-a-half inches of rain might fall on the opening day.
“A secondary stronger band of heavy rain and thunderstorms alongside a chilly entrance is forecast from 6AM-1PM Thursday [local time],” it learn.
“Wind gusts of 40-45 mph are anticipated from 8AM-12PM. A lull in precipitation ought to happen behind the chilly entrance between 1-4PM, earlier than scattered showers and remoted thunderstorms drift again into the area for the late afternoon and night hours.
“Whole rainfall of 1.5-2.5 inches is predicted by Thursday night.”
Luckily the forecast largely appears tremendous for the remainder of the weekend, which means the opening day ought to be the one one to be vulnerable to being delayed by wild climate.