Greg Norman knows what it’s like to feel the scrutiny of being professional golf’s top player.
Not to the same level as Tiger Woods has since his November car crash led to revelations of marital infidelities, and eventually a divorce.
With Woods winless in 2010, Norman can’t help but wonder what degree Woods’ game will return.
“I don’t think it’s going to be as easy for him as what it was in the past,” Norman said during Friday’s Shark Shootout press conference. “I think his confidence level has been completely dented a little bit. Not on his private life side of things, but more in his golf game. I’m sure when he walks to the tee now, he doesn’t have the same adulation that he had before.”
Norman, 55, remembered what it was like for him when he became the world’s top player, and not everyone was enthused.
“I was an international player, so you get this — when you walk from green to tee and there’s 30,000 people, and 1,000 of them between the green and tee, you get things thrown in your ear that you cannot block out, no matter how strong your mind is,” said Norman, who was No. 1 in the world for 331 weeks. “So Tiger has probably experienced a little bit of that, and it’s going to be tough, because he’s gone through 10, 15 years of his career where everybody was just yelling great things to him.”
Norman still believes Woods has a good chance to pass Jack Nicklaus’ record of 18 major championships (Woods has 14).
“I think he still has a chance to catch Jack,” Norman said. “I think the chances are getting slimmer and slimmer, though. Like I said, younger players are getting better and better, and he’s not as intimidating on the golf course as much anymore, and he’s not winning.
“So winning breeds success and confidence.”
Hi,everyone!There are some new golf clubs in our store,for example: Callaway X-22 Irons Left Handed , Callaway Diablo Edge Fairway Woods , Callaway X-24 Hot Irons
Norman hopes the victory for Europe in this month’s Ryder Cup in Wales will be a boon for golf and for the International team in the Presidents Cup. He is scheduled to captain that once again in 2011, in his home country of Australia.
“I thought ‘Oh my gosh, it’s going to be harder for us in the Presidents Cup because they don’t want to lose the Ryder Cup and the Presidents Cup in a two-year time period,’” Norman said. “I thought it was great for the game of golf. I thought the tournament, the way it came across on television, the support that was there amongst the spectators … probably the best Ryder Cup from a balance standpoint that I had ever seen.”
Fans won’t be seeing much of Norman in tournament golf. He missed most of this year recovering from shoulder surgery that he underwent in September 2009, and forced him to miss the Shark Shootout.
Watching the Shootout from the sidelines for the first time instead of playing gave the Great White Shark a different perspective.
“I’m not a good person to go watch a golf tournament, because you feel like ‘Hey, I want to be out there,’” said Norman, who will play with Matt Kuchar in this year’s Shootout. “But at the same time, you get to appreciate the things that go on behind the scenes. When we walk to the first tee the next five hours, we do what we love to do, but from sunrise to sunset, there’s a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes.”
Norman only started hitting balls again back in July. He will play in a pro-celebrity event he is hosting in China, and then in the Australian Open the week before the Shootout.
“Being away from it 11 months, I actually really enjoyed it, the fact that I didn’t have to go to the driving range,” he said. “And, actually, there was a part of my day that I always used to allocate for golf, like five, six, seven, eight hours a day. I didn’t have to allocate it. So I had a lot more time on my hands, and I enjoyed life a heck of a lot more.”
Part of that may have to do with his fiancee, Kirsten Eulenhofer. The two, who knew each other previously, got engaged this summer after bumping into one another in Egypt late in 2009.
According to the Mirror, Norman designed a six-carat Asscher-cut ring, and proposed to Eulenhofer in his kitchen.
“We’ve known each other for a long time,” Norman said Friday.
Norman and his first wife, Laura Andrassy, divorced in 2006 after 25 years of marriage. His 2008 marriage to former tennis star Chris Evert lasted 15 months.
Post by: discount golf clubs