Greg Norman will have to qualify for The 150th Open at St Andrews after the R&A made it clear there will be no special exemption for the 1986 and 1993 champion.
The Australian (67) wanted to make a headline-grabbing comeback at the Home of Golf, but either he forgot past Open champions are only exempt until they are 60, or he wanted to portray the R&A as the bad guys as part of his ongoing battle with golf’s status quo as he tries to start a new world tour backed by Saudi Arabia. “It’s the 150th. I’m a past Open Champion. I love St Andrews.
“If there’s a moment in time that I would consider going back and teeing off one last time, maybe this is it,” Norman told the ‘Sydney Telegraph’. “I’m filling out my entry form now, I think I’m going. I think I can still get in.”
Now CEO of LIV Golf Investments, which plans to stage an eight-event series worth $250 million this year, Norman will not be getting a special exemption from the R&A.
“The entry terms and conditions for The Open stipulate that a champion must be aged 50 or under or have won the championship in the previous 10 years to be exempt from qualifying,” the R&A said. “That remains the case for The 150th Open and we have no plans for any additional exemptions,” they continued.
The age limit for past champions was 65 when Jack Nicklaus retired at St Andrews in 2005 and subsequently reduced to 60 in 2007 though the R&A allowed past champions who finished in the top 10 a five-year exemption after Tom Watson almost won aged 59 at Turnberry in 2009.
While that only took Watson through the 2014 Open at Hoylake, the R&A granted him an exemption for 2015 at St Andrews.
Norman hasn’t played The Open since 2009 and is likely to be busy during Open qualifying as the eight-event LIV Golf Invitational Series will be up and running with the likes of Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood and Graeme McDowell linked in reports with the opening event at the Centurion Club in London from June 9-11.
In Spain, Pablo Larrazábal claimed his seventh DP World Tour title and his first on home soil when he closed with an eight-under 62 to win the ISPS Handa Championship at Infinitum in Tarragona
The Barcelona native (38) won by a shot on 15-under par from compatriot Adrian Otaegui with Niall Kearney tied 67th on two-over after he mixed four birdies with six bogeys in a closing 72.
