Brisbane, Australia (AP) — When Adam Scott won the Masters in 2013, the person he was most grateful for was a larger character than the real thing, which is synonymous with Australian golf.
“It was Greg Norman who inspired the golfer’s country,” Scott said shortly after defeating Angel Cabrera in the playoffs at Augusta. “Everything about how he treats himself was incredible … He was a role model.”
Australian golfers are now struggling to maintain that idea. Reason: Norman’s involvement in a Saudi-sponsored LIV golf tour and his comments on the killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Kashogi at the Saudi Consulate in Turkey.
“Look, we all made mistakes. You just want to learn about those mistakes and how they can be fixed in the future,” Norman said of the killings that caused international accusations. Norman commented at a press conference prior to the first LIV event scheduled for June 9-11 outside London.
That statement surprised seven LPGA major winners, Karrie Webb, who said on social media: Has anyone’s childhood hero ever disappointed them as much as I am now? The tweet had three emojis, two of which had tears in their eyes.
Australian Wayne Grady, who won the 1990 title at Shoal Creek in Birmingham, Alabama, as players gather for the PGA Championship in Tulsa, Oklahoma this week, said of Norman: He has never done it for Australian golf. “
The two were longtime friends and were on the international team together at the 1998 and 2000 Presidents Cup, where Norman played and Grady was a non-playing assistant captain.
Grady’s biggest problem was Norman’s decision to lead LIV Golf Investments, a job that Jack Nicklaus refused.
“I was offered something over $ 100 million by Saudi Arabia and did a job probably similar to what Greg (Norman) is doing,” Nicklaus said in an article on the FirePit Collective website. “I declined it. Once verbally and once in writing. I said,” Everyone, I have to stay on the PGA Tour. I helped start the PGA Tour. “
Norman didn’t seem to have such anxiety, and Grady said he knew why.
“He’s been trying to stop the tour for 30 years,” Grady said in a social media post. “The praise I had for him for what he achieved and what he did for Australian golf is gone. What the great men before he did to grow up is what they are trying to do. , And trying to create what the PGA Tour is today is an absolute shame. Shamefully bow your head, Shark. “
The Associated Press sent phone calls and emails to Scott’s management company without a response asking for comments from Australian players about Norman’s relationship with LIV and recent remarks about Khashoggi.
Khashoggi, who wrote critically about Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia, went to the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on October 2, 2018 to collect the necessary documents to marry his Turkish fiancé Hatigesenzis.
In February 2021, US intelligence said the Saudi Crown Prince had approved an operation that would lead to Khashoggi’s death.
Sengiz told The Telegraph in London that Norman’s comment was “very hurt.”
“If it’s your loved one, do you say that? How can you keep trying to move forward and repurchase their legitimacy when the people who ordered the murder haven’t been punished yet? “Are you?” Sengiz said.
Amnesty International also described Norman’s comment as “wrong and terribly wrong.”
Separately, Norman quized a question about inadequate records of Saudi Arabia’s LGBQT rights.
“To be honest, I don’t know if I have gay friends,” Norman replied.
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