On Wednesday, Slumbers explained why the R&A had refused to invite LIV series ringman Greg Norman to take part in this week’s ceremonies, even though Norman, who was apparently listed as an official “NFI” on the launch list for the minor celebration of the four-hole tournament of Champions they played here on Monday, won the Open in 1986 and 1993. “This is a very important week for golf. This is the oldest league. It’s the original league,” Slumbers said. “We decided we didn’t want the distraction.” Which makes the R&A meet a bit of Caddyshack. Slumbers is playing Judge Smails, so Norman is probably going to show up at any moment in his best Rodney Dangerfield jacket and slacks to explain that he never wanted to join here anyway and the whole thing is part of the big of his plan for the redevelopment of the Old Course. “Apartments there, plenty of parking, we’re going to make a fortune, believe me.” The tricky part about Slumbers is that he can’t really explain why the R&A is so dead against LIV. The obvious answer is that they don’t really want the competition. But that won’t wash. And the other is Saudi Arabia’s human rights record, which is also a tricky proposition given that the national golf federation is an affiliate member of R&D and has received development grants from the body in the past. The Saudi International was part of the European Tour circuit just last year. It wasn’t long before the authorities encouraged the players to leave. Which is probably why Slumbers needed a few mulligans to try to nail down his point about the morality of it all. “Let me be very clear: human rights violations, acts of terrorism cannot be condoned in my mind in any shape or form.” As useful as it was to clarify that R&D doesn’t condone killing, the effect was somewhat undermined when Slumbers then appended a “but”. “We have a responsibility to work with many countries around the world that are connected to R&D and are responsible for golf in their country.” It’s not about money, he said, but “golf as a force for good” and bending the moral arc of the universe toward justice one birdie at a time. R&A chief Martin Slumbers tries to tackle LIV Golf’s thorny issue ahead of the Open at St Andrews. Photo: Oisin Keniry/R&A/Getty Images Slumbers’ argument was about how the newly affluent newcomers simply don’t appreciate the “values” of the game. You assume there are many lawyers behind the scenes on both sides of this divide, which is why some of the language used is so specific (Slumbers reviewed the “UK companies act” when asked if it was a conflict of interest that also sits on the official World Golf Ranking Board, which is to decide on LIV’s request for official recognition). But the PR battle is fought in more vague terms like “integrity, personal responsibility and respect.” Slumbers argued that LIV “undermines the culture of meritocracy and the spirit of open competition”, while “he can look into the eyes of any boy or the parent of that boy and know that if he comes into the game and wants to get to the top, he wants to play this game, that there is a path to the top based solely on his ability and his willingness to work hard.” This, he said, is a principle “worth fighting for”. His idea for the future of the game “is mothers, fathers, children, grandchildren all playing golf together,” he said. “These are short-term facilities, public facilities, open to the public, relatively low cost and getting people into the game. Because all the research we do shows that our problem is getting people to try our sport often because of perception and often because of cost. But once they try it, the success rate of staying in the game is huge.” Subscribe to The Recap, our weekly email of editors’ picks. Which is all very admirable. But then again, it would be even more so if Slumbers wasn’t also busy defending the R&A’s decision to sell all live rights to pay-TV instead of keeping at least some of it free, where it would be readily available to everyone. “I don’t think free-to-air is as important as it was 25 years ago,” he explained. His own sons “have at least three devices on their laps when they watch any sport.” The game is certainly perfectly accessible if you can afford a tablet, laptop and phone to go with it. It helps if your father is also the CEO of R&D. Anyway. If you’re watching the action on one of your four devices this week, don’t be too concerned if you see an explosion going off somewhere in the background. Only Bill Murray will try to catch this stray gopher.
