Shark Sighting: Norman Has Goal Of Winning

By Ken Klavon, USGA

Kettering, Ohio – There once was a story about a golfer who had it all. He had panache, handsome looks and the ability to transcend the sport in an era when Jack Nicklaus' flame flickered. The game needed a torch bearer, a stud that could be marketed as a world-wide brand; a hotshot who had it, a swash-buckling flamboyance that would bring interest, and dollars, to the game.

Sounds an awful a lot like Tiger Woods, doesn't it? Except this story isn't another ode to golf's current greatest player. This tale is about Greg Norman, an unflappable Australian who, like Nicklaus before and Woods after him, adopted a predatory animal nickname, this one by way of the "The Great White Shark."

Where the narrative takes a bittersweet twist is when one compares all of their careers. Nicklaus, Norman and Woods had the intangibles and the wherewithal to be successful. All three had unlimited potential. All three were feared (one still is) whenever he had a club in his hands. All were nonplussed. In their spare time, the three could have fashioned as clothing line models.

One had such a grip on the competition that the PGA Tour created the World Golf Ranking so that his superiority could be quantified among the masses. The notion was that this player would be the one making a run at Nicklaus' astonishing 18 majors. Things were so on the up and up for him that he probably could have eaten ice cream with chopsticks.

This guy was Norman, the now (unbelievably) 50-year-old making his first Senior Open start. Still looking svelte, it hardly looks like he's been away.

In anticipation of Norman's decision to play in this week's Senior Open at NCR Country Club, someone at the U.S. Open asked Peter Jacobsen, 51, his thoughts. Jacobsen didn't wince, nor did he pause. Without a doubt, he said, Norman was "the Tiger of our era. He was the guy who hit it longer, did everything better, was better looking than everyone."

e struck fear in the opposition the way Woods does now. When Norman walked on a course, no matter the circumstance, the field expected he'd win or at least be in the hunt. And he was, notching an astounding 88 victories between 1976 and 2001 while splitting his time between the European and PGA tours. Even more incredible, he racked up 164 top-10 finishes up through 1997, the last year he played at least 15 tournaments in a season.

However, sadly, what he'll forever be infamously known for is his heart-breaking second-place finishes in majors. He did win two, the 1986 and 1993 British Open, but he also placed second eight times, four of them after losing in a playoff. In the history of golf, he is one of two players to lose four majors in a playoff joining Craig Wood.

The halcyon days don't look so golden with such a record even if he was a victim of fate. It wouldn't be so wrong to compare him to Charlie Brown when Lucy yanks the football out of his path.

Not so fast: Hale Irwin isn't convinced that Greg Norman is ready to dominate the Champions Tour after coming off back surgery. (John Mummert/USGA)

There's a perception that he blew chances at majors, but that wouldn't be entirely accurate. How could he have controlled, first, Bob Tway's miraculous 18th hole-out from a bunker in the 1986 PGA Championship and then Larry Mize's mind-blowing 40-yard chip-in in the playoff? The most damaging one, which he did have a control over, was the 1996 Masters. Norman, ranked No. 1 in the world, surrendered a six-shot lead in the final round to Nick Faldo to place him in a third-place with Sam Snead for most runner-up finishes in majors. Only Arnold Palmer, with nine, and Nicklaus with 19 had more.

Since 1997 he has almost disappeared from the spotlight to concentrate on his clothing line, course designs and wine products. Also to spend more time with his family. He tired of the travel, the hotels and the monotony of being on the road. It was in 1993 that he started preparing for a life after golf, setting a seven-year program to get his businesses up and running. Never having attended college, he wanted something to fall back on in case he lost the zest for golf by 2000. He shrewdly watched Nicklaus and Palmer branch out in the business world, taking a cue from both.

"They were two totally opposite in their directions they went in their business," said Norman. "Jack was very much independent, went out and did his own thing. Arnold was more endorsement related, and I thought about the greatest thing for longevity to me in life is establishing a brand that you can actually build on."

All the facets of businesses took off, with his clothing line recently posting its 10^th consecutive quarter of growth. Fifty-four courses have been designed, with Norman under contract to do 39 more.

Asked whether he was more proud of his golf career or business acumen, Norman said it was like the chicken-and-egg theory. He wouldn't have had success off the course without golf.

In March at the Dubai Desert Classic Norman felt immense pain in his back after a swing, leading to his withdrawal. The wicked torque from his swing finally caught up to him.

"I actually had a long talk with my wife coming back on the plane, and I said, ‘Look, this is really it,'" said Norman. "I mean, I can actually say goodbye to the game of golf, never hit another golf shot the rest of my life and I'd be happy because I can get back in life without any rotation."

Instead, he decided on surgery at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center after discussing his options with four doctors. He had three issues: a bone spur, decompression of nerves and a mild stress fracture. Doctors did microsurgery in a procedure that Norman compared to roto-rooting the nerve area with diamond-tipped drill.

"My doctor asked me how many golf balls I had hit in my career," said Norman. "I'm lying there in bed calculating somewhere between four and five million golf balls I had hit to do that to my body."

There's a calculating reason as to why he's here, playing with the seniors. He's eligible, of course, but he's angling to win, which would give him an exemption into next year's U.S. Open. He won't commit to the Champions Tour, mostly because he has acrimony toward the PGA Tour for allegedly taking one of his ideas.

Last week, in his first Champions Tour tournament, he finished third, one shot out of being in a playoff with eventual champion Tom Watson and Des Smyth. It's enough to make him a sentimental favorite, even if not everyone would agree.

"Why the advantage?" asked senior seven-time major winner Hale Irwin on Wednesday. "I don't think he has an advantage in terms of that. Greg is a very proven player, but he hasn't played a lot, and to cite his Senior British results I think is just one example."

Raymond Floyd said the opposite.

"You've got Greg Norman that played very well [last week]," said Floyd when asked about his favorites this week. "I think the guys you would make favorites, I would as well."

Favorite or not, Norman will use the Senior Open and other events as a gauge on whether he wants to continue playing competitively. He knows he's going to attempt to play close to 12 events next year, but none include the Champions Tour.

If he can win this week, maybe he can restore some of the swagger he carried in the 1980s. And if not, there's more to life than golf.

"My expectations aren't going to be high like I used to have high expectations in the ‘80s and ‘90s," he said. "Just saying, ‘OK, here you are, you're supposed to do it.'

"The game of golf doesn't come rushing back to you. … You can't flick on a light switch and there it is, so I've got to stay patient within myself and just let it happen, and if I do that, I'll have a shot."

Ken Klavon is the USGA Web Editor. E-mail him with questions or comments at kklavon@usga.org.