Seems the young lass being celebrated; her best friend wasn’t so keen on my little girl and had some influence as to who was invited to the 10th birthday party.

As we all know, kids can be cruel. But they’re kids and the social niceties that come with maturity usually leave such childish acts, well, confined to childhood.

Apparently not in the hallowed halls of the R&A.

The decision by the R&A not to invite two-time Open Champion Greg Norman to its celebration of the 150th Open Championship in St. Andrews is nothing short of mean-spirited and, dare I say it, childish.

“… we can confirm that we contacted Greg Norman to advise him that we decided not to invite him to attend on this occasion,” a statement from the R&A said.

So, when a host of former Open Champions take to the Old Course on Monday afternoon, Norman – the 1986 and 1993 Champion Golfer of the Year – will be, seemingly, back home in the United States. He will also be in absentia when said Champions gather for a dinner in honour of the championship.

The R&A clubhouse where the decision was made to no invite Greg Norman to the 150th Open celebrations. PHOTO: Getty Images.

No matter what your opinion of Norman – of the man, his views or the polarising impact his Saudi-backed LIV Golf Invitational is having on men’s professional golf – he still deserves his seat at the celebration table.

His two victories played a small, but not insignificant, part in the incredible history of the Open being celebrated this week in St. Andrews.

In fact, there has been more press coverage of him not being invited than there would have been if he was welcomed to St. Andrews.

But Norman’s attendance, according to the R&A, had the potential to hijack the celebrations with more LIV Golf talk.

"The 150th Open is an extremely important milestone for golf and we want to ensure that the focus remains on celebrating the Championship and its heritage.

"Unfortunately, we do not believe that would be the case if Greg were to attend.”

Yes, there would have been some attention paid to Norman, the chief executive of LIV Golf. In fact, there has been more press coverage of him not being invited than there would have been if he was welcomed to St. Andrews.

But I suspect this snubbing is more about not making other past champions like Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Tom Watson, Tiger Woods, Sir Nick Faldo and Rory McIlroy – all staunch and vocal supporters of the PGA and DP World Tours – uncomfortable by Norman’s presence.

By that measure, the R&A probably felt shunning one to keep the rest of the past champions happy was a no-brainer. PR-wise, it certainly wasn’t their finest hour.

It took less than 24 hours for a seemingly tit-for-tat development to arise after the R&A announcement.

The 2013 Open Champion and LIV Golf player, Phil Mickelson, informed the R&A he would not be attending the four-hole Champion’s Challenge or the Champion’s dinner. It’s not known if there was a collective sigh of relief in the R&A clubhouse.

Rather than trying to avoid awkward dinner conversation, the R&A had an ideal opportunity to bring some of the opposing figureheads together in the same room and, perhaps, take a baby step towards reconciliation.

Like my daughter, Norman will quickly get over his missing party invite. He’s doing alright, you can guarantee that. You can also guarantee he’s won back a few lost fans in the past 48 hours.