Did PGA Tour Make Greg Norman “Persona Non Grata” At QBE Shootout?

Greg Norman is the actual host of the QBE Shootout — always has been.

But you’d never know it if you watched the event last week.

There was no trip to the television booth to join Steve Sands and Curt Byrum.  Norman’s been there many times in past years — after all, he is the host and the architect of the course there in Naples — the Tiburon Golf Club.

There were no camera shots of Norman by The Golf Channel cameras until the very end when Norman suddenly slipped into view and quickly congratulated Kevin Na on his victory with teammate Jason Kokrak.

There was no image of Norman with the winners on the PGA Tour website.

No, it looked for all intents and purposes that the PGA Tour may have issued a secret decree making Norman Persona Non Grata, which means they wanted nothing to do with him.

Norman was slated for a Thursday presser and just as things were starting, the old internet crashed.  How convenient!  No truth to the rumor that the Sheriff of Nottingham (aka Tour commish Jay Monahan) had one of his Band Of Evil Hackers bust up Greg’s presser.

Right before the internet went kaput, Norman threw this out:

“The players are going to have the opportunity of independent contractors to go play both tours and I think that’s fantastic.”

Oh really?  Perhaps Sharky didn’t hear that “Them or Us,” declaration by The Sheriff a few months ago, speaking about Norman’s foray into the proposed Saudi-backed golf league.

That aside, it was nearly impossible to tell that Norman was once again the host of this event.

There was never any mention of him by Sands or Byrum on any broadcast and certainly none once it moved over to NBC on Saturday and Sunday afternoon.

Much to the horror of NBC, Norman jumped out from somewhere as Kevin Na and partner Jason Kokrak triumphantly exited the 54th and final hole after finishing 33-under par.

Norman gave Na the old handclasp shake and the both guys in the broadcast booth didn’t acknowledge his presence.

Of course there was no picture on the PGA Tour website of Norman posing with the winners but we’ve taken care of that in the photo above this column.

What really stood out was the Tour giving Norman the old cold shoulder and Norman’s declaration that “The players are going to have the opportunity of independent contractors to go and play both tours.”

It would be awesome to throw that one at The Sheriff for his take on Norman’s take.

You’d no doubt get a big fat “No Comment” from one of the Sheriff’s PR Henchmen.

So as we now head for 2022, this issue will become front and center.

There’s that little issue of the Saudi Invitational — an event that used to be part of the European Tour but is now an Asian Tour event.  Note that the Saudis threw a pile of money at the Asian Tour, which welcomed the Kids From The Kingdom with open arms.

Then there was Rory McIlroy’s thoughts that the Tour should indeed grant waivers to the 25 players, including defending champion Dustin Johnson, who want to head to The Kingdom and collected those fat appearances fees PLUS whatever they manage to win.  Double-dips are wonderful.

The clock is ticking and no doubt, somewhere, The Sheriff (aka Tour commish Jay Monahan) just might be squirming a bit.