One year after The Masters decided not to extend an invitation, Greg Norman has been at Augusta National each of the last two days.
Norman was one of the best golfers of his generation, but has now become most known for founding LIV Golf, which is financially backed by the Saudis' Public Investment Fund.
"I’m here because we have 13 players that won 10 Masters between them," Norman told The Washington 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.'"
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Phil Mickelson, Bubba Watson, Dustin Johnson, Jon Rahm, Sergio Garcia, Patrick Reed and Charl Schwartzel are the past Masters champions who represent LIV at Augusta National – Mickelson has won three green jackets, Bubba Watson won in 2010 and 2012, and the others have one each.
Harold Varner III, Talor Gooch, Abraham Ancer, Mito Pereira, Thomas Pieters, Jason Kokrak, Louis Oosthuizen and Kevin Na all played last year, but did not receive an invite this year. Bryson DeChambeau, Tyrrell Hatton, Brooks Koepka, Cameron Smith and Adrian Meronk all qualified to play, while Joaquin Niemann received a special invitation.
Last year's Masters was the first since the inception of LIV – the previous December, Augusta announced that LIV players would be allowed to play with a qualification or invite, citing a "focus… to honor the tradition of bringing together a preeminent field of golfers."
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Norman, though, says he has received a positive ovation walking the grounds of the Georgia golf course.
"Walking around here today, there’s not one person who said to me, ‘Why did you do LIV?’" he said. "There’s been hundreds of people, even security guys, stopping me, saying, ‘Hey, what you’re doing is fantastic.’ To me, that tells you that what we have and the platform fits within the ecosystem, and it’s good for the game of golf."
At the time of publishing, DeChambeau held the lead at -6. Last year, Koepka and Mickelson finished T2, and Reed finished T4.
Norman never won a Masters – his best finish was three second-place finishes in 1986, 1987 and 1996, the latter of which he lost a six-stroke lead on Sunday by shooting a 78 to eventual winner Nick Faldo's 67.
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