A philosophical Greg Norman returns this week to the Augusta course that broke his heart
GOLF:Bill Elliott
BY any of the usual standards applied to this varied life, Greg Norman should have been contemplating his arrival at Augusta in Georgia this week with all the rampant anticipation of a politician approaching his current mistress to ask if she would not mind staying stumm for the next couple of decades at least.
There are more obvious claimants to the title of Most Battered Sportsman of 1996, but while the worlds of boxing, horse racing and rugby no doubt have their own, literally bloodied contenders for such a label, there is no doubt that Norman is up there with the best, or worst, of them.
Golf may not be a life-threatening game except in its more bizarre moments – the sad occasion, when a player trying to navigate the railway line betwixt 5th and 6th holes at Lundin Links in Scotland was killed by a train, springs to mind – but golf can still wound deeply where it hurts most.
Even a casual glance at Norman’s face as he exited last year’s US Masters after blowing a six-shot lead to lose to Nick Faldo illustrated how depressed this proud competitor felt at that bleak moment. Yet here he is, 12 months later, still ranked No 1 in the world, still tilting enthusiastically at every windmill in his path.
“Can’t wait for it to start, mate,” was his considered response recently on being asked how he felt about returning to the scene of the accident. From anyone else that brief statement would have been taken with a containerful of salt but from Norman it has a certain ring of authenticity.
Colin Montgomerie, a serious under-achiever himself so far in his quest for one of those dodgy green blazers the champion receives, has no doubt that Norman will approach this Masters with all the old panache still intact. “If it was anyone else but Greg he’d be returning to Augusta with some reluctance and trepidation, but knowing him I’m sure Greg will be relishing the thought. In fact, he’ll turn it to his advantage. The way he’ll be thinking will be that if he wins this year what a win that would be.”.
Whether that is how it turns out remains to be seen, of course, but what is beyond doubt is that Norman’s game, his demeanour, how he handles this Masters, will be picked over like so many chicken bones left overnight in the jackals’ enclosure. No one, not even the phenomenal Tiger Woods, is about to be placed more squarely central in the news media’s spotlight than Norman; and he knows it.
“I’m used to all that stuff by now and, anyway, I’m comfortable with who I am,” he says. “Look, anyone who tries to do anything in life has to accept that some of the time there will be setbacks and that life isn’t always fair. That’s how I view the Masters thing last year. I was out the next day looking at a golf course I was building. It’s not that I didn’t care or that I wasn’t very disappointed, but life goes on and I just got on with it.”
That philosophical approach to the sweaty world of big-time sport always has been part of Norman’s armour. In recent years it has been enhanced as he has developed a serious interest in Zen. As he earns vast amounts of money from the Far East it might be construed that it was a commercially astute road to follow, but Norman insists there is more to it than that.
That is why his office at his home in Hobe Sound, southern Florida, has walls plastered with Zen sayings, little nuggets of wisdom that he is storing up for the next rainy day. Favourite among them, he tells me, is the one that suggests, “It is the journey that is important, the journey that is the reward”. That was the opening line in a consoling letter he sent to Davis Love after the American three- putted the final green in last year’s US Open to shred any chance he had of victory.
“I know what it’s like to suffer that kind of disappointment and I just wanted Davis to know that I knew, and to tell him that it wasn’t the end of the world even if that’s how it felt at the time.”
Certainly, his startling capitulation to Faldo last year has not been the end of any part of Norman’s exotic life. If anything, he is earning far more money now than he was then thanks to his graceful acceptance of this shocking defeat and to a growing business acumen. For years Norman grafted away as a client of the Mark McCormack sports agency. Together they got considerably richer, but it is since setting up his own 43-strong team and managing his own affairs that Norman’s money has risen from merely serious amounts of the folding stuff to simply ridiculous figures.
He admits that a few years ago he would struggle to stay awake during business meetings, but, now he has a taste for the action, he has turned into a bit of a Wall Street shark. “I’ve got some dear, dear friends on Wall Street now that have helped me out. I pick up the phone and call one of my best buddies and I say, `Hey, I’ve got this going on, what do you think?’ Then I might jump on my plane and go to New York so my pal can lay out the best scenario possible that he’s experienced. It’s then my decision after that.”
That hands-on approach has turned Great White Shark Enterprises Inc into a serious player in the American leisure market. Norman’s interests in clothing, course design, clubs and restaurants are producing huge pay-offs, while the Sod Farm he bought recently has developed a type of grass so durable they cannot grow it fast enough to meet the demands of sports stadiums.
So he drives in his Ferrari to the course near his home that he owns, where he boards his helicopter to hop down to West Palm Beach to climb into his private jet to fly wherever he desires or needs to visit. A typical itinerary recently took in Florida, Taiwan, Japan, Los Angeles before going on to Australia.
For relaxation during a major business trip like this he tends to play tournament golf, where his appearance fee often outstrips the first prize. Someone, he says with a grin, has to pay the gas bill.
Yet impressive though all this empire building is – like most would-be omnipotents he rationalises it all by saying he is really only trying to set the kids up – none of it will count if he conspires to simultaneously kick himself in the mouth while stabbing himself in the back again at this Masters.
Certainly Faldo and Co will be doing their best to prevent the Australian winning the title he now covets more than any other. The exterior challenge Norman faces comes naturally from the usual suspects, from Faldo and the rejuvenated Jose Maria Olazabal, from Woods and Tom Lehman, Phil Mickelson, Freddie Couples and Montgomerie.
But the main challenge to Norman perhaps comes more from himself and his emotional temperament than anyone else in Georgia.