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Greg Norman

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Greg Norman
Greg Norman on the USS John F. Kennedy.
Personal Information
Birth (1955-02-10) February 10, 1955 (age 69)
Mount Isa, Queensland
Nationality Australia
Wife Laura (married 1981, divorced 2007)
Children Morgan Leigh, and Gregory
Residence Hobe Sound, Florida
Career
Turned Pro 1974
Current Tour PGA Tour
Professional wins 87 (PGA Tour: 20, European Tour: 14, PGA Tour of Australasia: 33, Other: 22)
Best Results in Major Championships
Wins: 2
Masters 2nd/T2: 1986, 1987, 1996
U.S. Open 2nd: 1984, 1995
British Open Won 1986, 1993
PGA Championship 2nd: 1986, 1993
Awards
PGA Tour of Australia
Order of Merit Winner 		1978, 1980, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1988
PGA Tour
Money Winner 		1986, 1990, 1995
PGA Player of the Year 1995
PGA Tour
Player of the Year 		1995
Vardon Trophy 1989, 1990, 1994
Byron Nelson Award 1988, 1990, 1993, 1994, 1995

Gregory John Norman AM (born February 10, 1955) is an entrepreneur and Australian professional golfer who spent 331 weeks as the world's number one ranked golfer in the 1980s and 1990s. He is nicknamed "The Great White Shark", or simply, "The Shark", a reference to a shark inhabiting Australian waters as well as Norman's size and blond locks.

Career outline

Norman was born in Mount Isa, Queensland, Australia. As a youth, he played sports such as rugby and cricket. His mother Toini Norman was a fine golfer who earned a handicap in the low single digits. Greg Norman took up golf for the first time at age 16, and within a year was playing to a scratch handicap. He began his career in golf as a trainee in the Royal Queensland golf shop for the famed Charlie Earp, earning AUD 28 a week.[1] The first professional tournament he won was the 1976 Westlakes Classic in his home country, and he soon moved on to success on the European Tour and later the PGA Tour.

Norman won The Open Championship twice, in 1986 and 1993, and also won The Players Championship in 1994 in record-setting fashion (averaging 68.81 per round for the year). Despite his huge success on the U.S. PGA Tour and his many wins around the world, Norman will be forever regarded as an underachiever (given his talents), a characterization fueled by his myriad near-misses in The Masters, the U.S. Open, and the PGA Championship. He was equally a victim of his own bad luck and good luck on the part of his fellow golfers in major championships. He infamously lost a near-certain PGA Championship in 1986 after Bob Tway holed a greenside bunker shot (though Norman himself shot a 76 that day), and lost The Masters the following year in a playoff on an even more miraculous 45-yard chip shot by Larry Mize on the second play-off hole.

But not all of Norman's Major woes have been at the hands of others. Many times he has failed to perform in the final round of a tournament, whether it be a final-round 78 in the 1996 Masters (see below), a 73 in the 1995 US Open where even-par 70 would have won the tournament, or the 76 in the '86 PGA that set him up to be defeated by Bob Tway's bunker shot. Several of Norman's infamous "chokes" occurred when his wobble-prone putting got the better of him. In 1986, he led all four majors after the third round but won only the British Open. (This is jokingly referred to as the "Norman Slam" or the "Saturday Slam," as in he was leading after the third round on Saturday but lost in the final round on Sunday). He is one of only two players to have competed in - and, like Craig Wood, to have lost - play-offs in all four of the major championships. But perhaps the most embarrassing Norman meltdown of all occurred at The Masters in 1996, where he blew a six-stroke lead in the final round and lost the tournament to Nick Faldo by five strokes, shooting a Sunday 78 to Faldo's 67. ESPN, as part of their "ESPN25" 25th-anniversary celebration, ranked Norman's 1996 Masters mishap as the third-biggest sports choke of the last 25 years. Despite the losses, though, Norman still has 29 top-ten finishes in the majors.

After a career slump in the early 1990s, Norman turned to Butch Harmon, a well-known coach and instructor, for help. Together, the two rebuilt Norman's game to top form (The Pro, by Claude 'Butch' Harmon Jr., 2006) by solving mechanical problems which had crept into Norman's swing.

After Jack Nicklaus left his prime, Norman was regarded as probably the game's greatest long hitter. In his heyday, driving long and incredibly straight off the tee with a persimmon (wood) clubhead, he intimidated most of his fellow professionals. However, with the advent of the "metal-wood" by TaylorMade and other subsequent advances in golf ball & golf club technology (especially the variable face depth driver), his dominance was significantly diminished, as the "new technology" enabled less precise ball-strikers than Norman to achieve equal (or even better) results in accuracy and distance. But whether the cause was shaken confidence, the new technology, or the emergence of golf's next generation of young stars (including Tiger Woods), Norman was never the same after his final Masters collapse. In the years since, Norman has focused more and more on business ventures and golf course design than on competitive play. He turned fifty in February 2005, but has not yet become a regular on the senior golf circuit, because of his other interests, significant back injuries and because he required knee surgery in October 2005 and February 2006.[2]

Norman's friendly image and articulate nature has made him a perfect spokesman for a wide range of products, including the usual array of golf equipment (Greg is part owner of MacGregor Golf), but extending well beyond. While continuing to play tournaments (albeit in an abbreviated schedule), his growing business interests take up an increasing amount of his time. His personal wealth is estimated to be in the hundreds of millions of U.S. dollars.

Norman's hobbies include offshore game fishing. He has owned a succession of increasingly large and luxurious boats (though his latest, called Aussie Rules, after the sport Australian rules football, may best be described as a small ship) for the purpose. He even described his "ugly" 1993 PGA Championship victory "[i]n fishing terms, this was a mackerel in the moonlight—shining one minute, smelly the next."[3] He became a wine lover in the 1970s while playing at tournaments in Europe.[4] Based in Hobe Sound, Florida, he typically plays only one or two tournaments per year in his homeland which rests easily with other Australians too.

Norman won the PGA Tour of Australia's Order of Merit six times: 1978, 1980, 1983, 1984, 1986, and 1988. He won the European Tour's Order of Merit in 1982, and topped the PGA Tour's Money List in 1986, 1990, and 1995. He won the Vardon Trophy for lowest scoring average on the PGA Tour three times: 1989, 1990, and 1994; and was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2001. His dominance over his peers (despite his comparative lack of success in the majors) was probably best expressed in the Official World Golf Rankings: Norman finished the season on top of the ranking list on seven occasions, in 1986, 1987, 1989, 1990, 1995, 1996 and 1997, and was second at the end of 1988, 1993 and 1994.

In 1986, Norman was awarded the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Overseas Personality Award, a feat he replicated in 1993 to join Muhammad Ali and Björn Borg as multiple winners (They have since been joined by Roger Federer).

Personal life

Greg attended Aspley State High School on the North side of Brisbane, Queensland.[5] Norman married an American named Laura in 1981 and they have two children Morgan Leigh, and Gregory. The family lived in Hobe Sound, Florida. His daughter attended Boston College, and for a short while dated Sergio García.[6] In May 2006 he announced that he would be getting divorced.[7] He refused to comment on the reasons for this, other than to say there was no third party involved. Greg Norman's net worth is estimated at $500 million.

Norman had attempted to starve out his wife Laura by canceling his wife's credit cards and changing the locks to their $35 million home. This was done in an attempt to force Laura to slash the $300 million divorce settlement which was originally agreed to in June 2006. Norman's legal team also sent Laura a letter stating Norman's refusal to provide his wife with any more financial funds to continue her legal representation unless she agreed to a reduced amount of the divorce settlement.[8] In September 2007 Norman announced his intention to marry former tennis champ Chris Evert.[9].

His mother Toini is of Finnish origin.

Transport

Norman and his wife commissioned the 228 ft luxury yacht "Aussie Rules", built by Australia ferry builder Austal/Oceanfast. The boat held four sports boats, including a 60ft custom sportfisherman, along with stowage for related gear: 200 rods. Built of aluminium, she could cruise at 15 knots with a range of 8,000 Nm.[10] The boat cost $70 million, but resulted in Austal making an AUS$18 million loss. The boat was quickly sold by Norman in 2004 for a rumored $77 million to the founder of Blockbuster Video, Wayne Huizenga.[11] She is now renamed M/Y Floridian, and available for charter at $400 000 per week or sale.[12]

Norman was also an early customer for the Boeing Business Jet, which he had ordered with custom fitted bedroom and office. However, the downturn in the Asian markets adversely affected his golf course design business, and he latterly cancelled the order after acting as an ambassador for Boeing[13] He eventually retained his Gulfstream V.[14]

Major Championships

Wins (2)

Year Championship 54 Holes Winning Score Margin Runners Up
1986 The Open Championship 1 shot lead E (74-63-74-69=280) 5 strokes England Gordon J. Brand
1993 The Open Championship (2) 1 shot deficit -13 (66-68-69-64=267) 2 strokes England Nick Faldo

Results timeline

Norman had 29 top-ten finishes in the majors between 1979 and 1999. In 2005 he qualified to play on the Champions Tour. He may continue to enter some majors as a senior, but is unlikely to contend for further major titles.

Tournament 1977 1978 1979
The Masters DNP DNP DNP
U.S. Open DNP DNP T48
The Open Championship CUT T29 T10
PGA Championship DNP DNP DNP
Tournament 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989
The Masters DNP 4 T36 T30 T25 T47 T2 T2 T5 T3
U.S. Open DNP T33 DNP T50 2 T15 T12 T51 WD T33
The Open Championship CUT T31 T27 T19 T6 T16 1 T35 DNP T2
PGA Championship DNP T4 T5 T42 T39 CUT 2 70 T9 T12
Tournament 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
The Masters CUT CUT T6 T31 T18 T3 2 CUT CUT 3
U.S. Open T5 WD DNP CUT T6 2 T10 CUT DNP CUT
The Open Championship T6 T9 18 1 T11 T15 T7 T36 DNP 6
PGA Championship T19 T32 T15 2 T4 T20 T17 T13 DNP CUT
Tournament 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005
The Masters T11 CUT T36 DNP DNP DNP
U.S. Open CUT DNP T59 DNP DNP DNP
The Open Championship DNP DNP T18 T18 CUT T60
PGA Championship CUT T29 T53 CUT DNP DNP

DNP = Did not play
WD = Withdrew
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10.

Summary of major championship performances

  • Starts - 88
  • Wins - 2
  • 2nd place finishes - 8
  • Top 3 finishes - 13
  • Top 5 finishes - 19
  • Top 10 finishes - 29
  • Longest streak of top-10s in majors - 3

Professional wins (87)

PGA Tour wins (20)

Major championships are shown in bold.

European Tour wins (14)

Wins in Australia (33)

Other wins (22)

Team appearances

See also

References

  1. ^ Legacy of an Australian idol, The Sun-Herald, 11 July, 2004.
  2. ^ Rusty Norman withdraws from Open, BBC Sport, 4 July 2006.
  3. ^ The Gigantic Book of Golf Quotations, ed. Jim Apfelbaum. 2007.
  4. ^ "Drinking and Driving". Fortune, November 14, 2005, pages 110–111.
  5. ^ http://www.shark.com/sharkwatch/sharkive/sharkive26.php
  6. ^ http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/story/0,21598,20503054-949,00.html
  7. ^ http://www.straightdivorce.com/divorceblog/index.php/greg-norman-agrees-to-divorce-settlement/
  8. ^ http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,22247680-2,00.html
  9. ^ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/showbiz/showbiznews.html?in_article_id=480655&in_page_id=1773
  10. ^ http://www.powerandmotoryacht.com/megayachts/0304aussierules/
  11. ^ http://businesssunday.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=69314
  12. ^ http://www.charterworld.com/index.html?sub=yacht-charter&charter=floridian-ex-aussie-rules-996
  13. ^ http://www.golftoday.co.uk/news/yeartodate/news99/norman.html
  14. ^ http://www.golfdigest.com/majors/masters/index.ssf?/majors/masters/gd200204norman.html

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