No Augusta invite for Greg Norman, confirms Masters chairman

Masters chairman Fred Ridley has confirmed LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman was not invited to Augusta National this year.

Norman, who finished runner-up in the Masters three times and blew a six-shot lead in the final round in 1996, would usually be invited as a former major champion and described the decision as "petty".

Speaking in his annual pre-tournament press conference, Ridley said: "We did not extend an invitation to Mr Norman.

"The primary issue and the driver there is that I want the focus this week to be on the Masters competition, on the great players that are participating, the greatest players in the world.

"By our decision in December [to allow LIV players to compete] we ensured that we were going to honour and be consistent with our invitation criteria.

"I would also add that, in the last 10 years, Greg Norman has only been here twice, and I believe one of those was as a commentator for Sirius Radio."

Asked to respond to Norman's claim that he would never be invited back, Ridley said he would "never say never" and noted there had been no signs of the expected tension between LIV players and those who had remained loyal to the established Tours.

"The tone has been really good here this week," Ridley added.

"I've noticed the players are interacting. Last night at the Champions Dinner I would not have known that anything was going on in the world of professional golf other than the norm.

"So I think, and I'm hopeful, that this week might get people thinking in a different direction and things will change."

Former champion Danny Willett joked that the spiciest element of the evening was the tortilla soup served as part of Scottie Scheffler's chosen menu.

"We all respect that we're in that room because we played some great golf