The Toothless Shark

Outside of David Duval the last man to hold the #1 ranking in the world of golf outside of Tiger Woods was "The Shark" Greg Norman. Norman held onto the #1 position for 331 weeks. The likable Aussie always good for an interview with a fine line of clothing with two British Open Championships and a couple of Memorial wins on Jack's course have been a couple of the highlights of his career. Norman has also been quite the Shark in terms of heading up world class golf resorts around the world and course design. As a businessman Norman is a Shark. The reputation was born on the golf course by hustling and betting on everything and anything on the golf course.

Unfortunately this Sunday in July at the age of 54 Norman never quite lived up to his reputation of being a Shark on the tour often coming up just short in the majors. Probably the worse loss was to Bob Tway at the 1986 PGA Championship at Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio after being up by 5 strokes only to falter with a Sunday 76. As a matter of fact Norman has had 31 top ten finishes in the major including his best year of 1986 when he held the lead in all four majors after 54 holes but could only finish off the "tour bait" once, that being at Turnberry in Scotland.

This is just another humbling story of golf. Before Tiger Woods the game has humbled every player. Nicklaus had his down years and right now only Tiger seems to be immune to golf humility as he has won at least two events every year on tour.

Greg Norman golf's biggest moments seems to be snake bitten by the game. He rarely backs off of shots and when he does in the most pressure filled moments he ends up leaving a putt 10 feet short, overhitting a green, slicing one in the woods, and every possible bad shot imaginable under pressure Norman misses. Sunday was just another example at the Sr. British Open. Leading the pack heading into Sunday and with sub par scores popping up everywhere led by Mark McNulty's 6 under 64, the Shark swam home like a regular Tuna with a modest one over 71.

Golf is a funny game. The man compared to Greg Norman the most this past week because he was a senior that put a scare into the young pups at the Open Championship on the big boy tour, Tom Watson. The apple pie faced Alfred E. Newman look-alike from Kanaas finished up 2 strokes behing Norman but in the face of pressure on this Sunday shot a 3 under 67 to close the gap on Norman. Comparatively Watson has 8 major titles to his name compared to Norman's two.

Again, Golf is a very funny game especially when Alfred E. Newman is chewing up the competition while the Shark has a history of being Sunday bait.