AUGUSTA, Ga. — LIV Golf League CEO Greg Norman was spotted on the grounds at Augusta National on Wednesday ahead of the 88th playing of the Masters.
The Washington Post first reported Norman’s attendance.
“I’m here because we have 13 players that won 10 Masters between them,” Norman told the Post. “So, I’m here just to support them, do the best I can to show them, ‘Hey, you know, the boss is here rooting for you.'”
Norman — a three-time runner-up in the tournament — has not been at the Masters since 2021, when he attended as a radio analyst for Sirius XM. He was hired to be LIV Golf’s chief executive that summer. Pictures showed Norman wearing a Shark-branded hat and a LIV Golf polo as he greeted fellow Australian Min Woo Lee.
During the heat of the LIV Golf-PGA Tour battle last year, Norman did not attend the Masters, and Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley confirmed the tournament did not extend an invitation to Norman in order to “keep the focus on the competition.”
“Funnily enough, I haven’t been invited,” Norman told Telegraph Sport last year. “As a major winner I always was [invited] 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.”
Since the 2023 event, the PGA Tour and the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, which backs LIV Golf, have announced a framework agreement to unite. But nearly a year later, both parties remain in negotiations over a deal that is expected to begin to bring the sport back together in some fashion.
Following the announcement of the framework agreement on June 6 of last year, Norman remained steadfast that LIV Golf would not be going away. The Saudi-backed golf league has since brought on Masters champion Jon Rahm as well as Tyrrell Hatton — currently the 19th-ranked player in the world.
Thirteen LIV golfers are in the Masters field this year compared to 18 last year. As players who bolted from the PGA Tour spend more time with LIV Golf, their world rankings have dropped dramatically since the league’s events are not eligible to receive world ranking points.
“I think there’s probably a couple that have been overlooked that should be in,” Norman told the Post. “What is that number? I’m not going to give it a definitive number, but they’re definitely quality players that have done incredible performances over the last six to nine months that are worthy of it.”
On Wednesday, Ridley said Augusta can always provide special invitations if it feels a player not in the field is worthy of one, as it did with Joaquin Niemann this year. But the notion of a LIV Golf-specific exemption or invitation may not be in the cards.
“Our goal is to have, to the greatest extent possible, the best field in golf, the best players in the world,” Ridley said. “Having said that, we never have had all the best players in the world because of the structure of our tournament. It’s an invitational. It’s limited field, it’s a small field. But we do have that flexibility … and I would not foreclose that we would consider that in the future.”
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