Norman must qualify for Open; Cantlay and Schauffele go wire-to-wire
Greg Norman
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 past Open champions are only exempt until they are 60.
"The entry terms and conditions for The Open stipulate that a champion must be aged 60 or under or have won the championship in the previous 10 years to be exempt from qualifying," the R&A said at the weekend.
"That remains the case for The 150th Open and we have no plans for any additional exemptions."
Norman told Australia's Sydney Telegraph he wanted to play The Open “one last time” adding, "I'm filling out my entry form now, I think I'm going. I think I can still get in."
As CEO of LIV Golf Investments, which is planning an eight-event series of no-cut events worth $250 million, he was either unaware of the age limit or looking to cast the R&A in a negative light as he battles golf’s status quo.
The age limit for past champions was 65 when Jack Nicklaus retired at St Andrews in 2005 and subsequently reduced to 60 in 2007.
Tom Watson almost won aged 59 at Turnberry in 2009, prompting the R&A to allow past champions who finish in the top-10 a five-year exemption.
That brought Watson through to 2014 at Hoylake before the R&A granted the five-time champion a special exemption for St Andrews in 2015.
Norman, who last competed in The Open in 2009, is likely to be busy during Open qualifying as the eight-event LIV Golf Invitational Series will be up and running.
Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood and Graeme McDowell have been linked with the $25 million, no-cut, 54-hole opening event at the Centurion Club in London from June 9-11.
Dressed again in tartan slacks, Poulter and partner Shane Lowry closed with a two-under 70 in foursomes to finish 13th on 21-under in the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.
They were eight shots behind wire-to-wire winners Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele, who shot 72 to win by two shots from Sam Burns and Billy Horschel on 29-under.
Format: Four-ball (best ball) in first and third rounds, Foursomes (alternate shot) in second and fourth rounds
Final-Round Leaderboard
Patrick Cantlay/Xander Schauffele 59-68-60-72—259 (-29)
Sam Burns/Billy Horschel 62-68-63-68—261 (-27)
Doc Redman/Sam Ryder 61-67-69-67—264 (-24)
Things to Know
Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele win the Zurich Classic of New Orleans with a tournament-record 29-under 259, becoming the first team to win the event in wire-to-wire fashion
Cantlay collects his seventh PGA TOUR victory in his 131st start at the age of 30 years, 1 month, 7 days
Schauffele picks up his fifth victory in his 129th TOUR start at the age of 28 years, 5 months, 30 days
Cantlay becomes the first player to lose a playoff one week and win a tournament the next since Dustin Johnson (2020)
Billy Horschel and Sam Burns finish runner-up on TOUR for the ninth and third time, respectively
Defending champions Marc Leishman and Cameron Smith finish T21
Zurich Ambassadors (bold): Billy Horschel/Sam Burns (2nd), Justin Rose/Henrik Stenson (T14) Collin Morikawa/Viktor Hovland (T29)
Patrick Cantlay/Xander Schauffele (Winner/-29)
Set the 72-hole scoring record at the Zurich Classic with a 259 (previous: 261, Jonas Blixt/Cameron Smith/2017/won, Scott Brown/Kevin Kisner/2017/runner-up)
Become the event’s first team to win in wire-to-wire fashion; most recent wire-to-wire winner on TOUR: Joaquin Niemann/2022 Genesis Invitational
Third-round leaders to convert for the win since the Zurich Classic became a team event in 2017: Jonas Blixt/Cameron Smith (2017), Jon Rahm/Ryan Palmer (2019), Cantlay/Schauffele (2022)
Finished T11 in their debut appearance as a team in 2021
Patrick Cantlay
2021 FedExCup Champion and PGA TOUR Player of the Year collects his seventh TOUR win in his 131st start, winning for the first time since the 2021 TOUR Championship
Collects 400 points and moves from No. 9 to No. 4 in the FedExCup
Becomes the first player to lose a playoff one week (RBC Heritage) and win a tournament the next since Dustin Johnson in 2020 (BMW Championship, TOUR Championship)
Wins for the third time in four attempts with the 54-hole lead/co-lead (2-for-3 in stroke play: 2021 BMW Championship, 2021 TOUR Championship; 1-for-1 in team play: 2022 Zurich Classic of New Orleans)
Has four top-15 finishes in five starts at the Zurich Classic (T14/2017, T7/2018, MC/2019, T11/2021 won/2022)
Xander Schauffele
Picks up his fifth TOUR win in his 129th start; wins for the first time since the 2019 Sentry Tournament of Champions
Collects 400 points and moves from No. 52 to No. 20 in the FedExCup
Wins for the first time in five tries with the 54-hole lead/co-lead (0-for-4 in stroke-play events; 1-for-1 in team events)
Three top-15 finishes in as many starts at the event (T11/2017, T11/2021, won/2022)
Miscellaneous Notes
Six-time PGA TOUR winner Billy Horschel picks up his ninth runner-up finish on TOUR, while three-time winner Sam Burns earns his third; Horschel is the only player to win the Zurich Classic in both the individual (2013) and team format (with Scott Piercy in 2018); after missing the cut in 2018 and 2019, Burns has finished T4 (2021) and second (2022)
Defending champions Marc Leishman and Cameron Smith finished T21 at 17-under
Making his 799th PGA TOUR start, Jay Haas (and son, Bill) finished T36; the elder Haas became the oldest player to make a cut in TOUR history this week, doing so at the age of 68 years, 4 months and 20 days
Zurich Ambassadors (bold): Billy Horschel/Sam Burns (2nd), Justin Rose/Henrik Stenson (T14) Collin Morikawa/Viktor Hovland (T29)
