Greg Norman's Obsession With Tiger Continues

[Obee]

And he won 2 majors. Think about THAT.

[Obee]

No, I'm saying he choked. In majors.

[Jay28]

...and also didn't choke in majors - as he won 2.

So he choked and he didn't choke.

Seems a little odd. Perhaps we should give credit to the people who beat him in those majors. Just a thought.

 

[Obee]

You can have the last word.

[Forged4ever]

And here ya have it!!

 

Simply, Succinctly & Spot on??

 

Jack considers Norman to be one of the three best drivers of the ball AND three best strikers that he ever competed against(He also put Tom Weiskopf as a ball striker in that threesome, along with Sam, and he said with a dead serious look and demeanor that if he had Tom Weiskopf’s swing that he’d have AT LEAST 10 more majors).

 

I’ve said it before and I’m sure that I’ll say it again and that is getting to Play behind Norman and in front of him when he was at his peak to when he was still a #1 caliber Player(1987-1998) and I have never ever in my life seen guy hit a 3i under the gun like Norman did. It looked like a 7i takin off and landing, cept for the 245-250yds in between. He had a sound at impact that I could only equate to one other golfer, yeppers, Tom Weiskopf. It was more than a “CRACK.” It was more than a GUN SHOT. I never got to see/hear Tiger up close as I did those two Gents, so I’m sure that he also had “that” sound, however it was different from any other Player that I’ve ever heard, and it was wicked, lolol

 

Seriously, I got goose bumps then visualizing him swinging and that sound at impact and I still get goose bumps visualizing it/him and I’m not easily impressed and I couldn’t stand the guy then, though I’ve always been able to separate the man from the Player, whether it was on a football field or on a golf course.

 

D*mn, could he stripe a golf ball, lol.

 

This is just my amateur opinion, and while I didn’t ever Play in his group, I was one group behind him twice and one ahead of him twice, however I did have personal interactions with the man, and I saw things, insecurities if you will, that were transparent off of the course, that became magnified, omnipresent and all-encompassing on the course, especially on Sunday at ANGC and while there is no doubt in my mind at least, being a d!ck and all, he is one of the Best ball strikers EVER under the gun, it’s just as Obe’s stated, those personal insecurities came to the forefront on Sunday, depending on who he was competing against, where he was competing and what he was competing for.

 

Look, the guy has the second longest run at #1 in the history of the game(331 weeks), and one year, I forget which one, he won five tournaments in five different countries!!!

 

WTF?????

 

Seriously, think about that for a minute~

 

The majority of card carrying Tour Boys couldn’t win a friggin Tournament if it were Played at their home club and this jamoke jetted around the world, plaintin tees and kickin *ss!!!

 

I believe that what it came down to after all of the psychobabble, analysis and tears is very simple~

 

He did not find himself worthy of being a Masters Champion!!!

 

Sure, he grabbed two Majors, so unlike most of these gabrones, who find ways to fold in any Major event, regardless of their ranking, record the previous month, yada yada yada, Norman knew that he was THE Best Player on earth for 53 6/7 weeks a year!!

 

Unfortunately for Gregory, that last day of that 54th week was like a kick in the n*ts?!!

 

It started off off the course and manifested itself on the course when he planted his first peg on Sunday!!

 

Oh, I heard a few of ya chirpin that it was goin up against Sir Nick that caused him to freeze, lol

 

Paleeeeeeze??

 

The day before, on Saturday(1996), when PAIRED with Nick the D*ck, Norman moved his four stroke lead to SIX STROKES!

 

He Played like the #1 Player in the world is supposed to Play!!

 

Following that round, when I and anyone that I know would have been replaying that Saturday round in their mind over and over and visualizing it as Sunday’s round, and visualizing the success to come, the success that he had worked so hard for, sacrificed so much for, and for 54 holes had Played so deservedly for, instead, he chirped to Butch RIGHT AFTER HE HAD JUST ADDED TWO STROKES TO HIS LEAD PLAYING HEAD TO HEAD WITH FALDO, “This isn't going to be easy,” speaking about his upcoming Sunday showdown.

 

He also told Butch that Faldo’s stature as a 2-Time Champion versus his own record as a 2-Time runner-up weighed on him because, "Masters champions are there for a reason ... they understand all those little crazy quirks of what Augusta National can deliver."

 

I mean, seriously, WTF?????

 

If I was standing in Butch’s place and he said that to me, I’d have replied, “Dude, WTF??? You’ve Played this course so many times under the gun that you could walk it blind folded!!! You’ve seen all the ‘crazy little quirks that Augusta can deliver’ and you handed Faldo his *ss today. You’re the Greatest Player on earth!! Visualize every shot from today AND EVERY FEELING AND EMOTION FROM THOSE SHOTS!! Visualize the feel of those swings along with the picture of them!!”

 

Though the cold hard facts are that if you have those deep seeded doubts after doing what he’d just done to Faldo less than two hours before, there’s no friggin way he’d be mentally ready to bring home the green jacket on Sunday, regardless of what Butch, you, me or anyone said to him.

 

HowITF can guy with his record, his ranking, Playing like a Champion in doing what he had done to Faldo less than two hours before, have doubts, and at the time, please take two things to the bank..

 

1) I despised Norman with a passion(stories of our encounter are elsewhere??)

2) Norman was a GREAT CHAMPION

 

How can he think like this????

 

It was so incredulous, impossible and incredible to me that when I saw Butch down in Florida years later at Isleworth, over lunch with my Father, who was his surgeon at the time, I asked him if the above statements by Norman were true cuz I could not believe that someone that reached the heights that he had reached and did what he had done as recently as that very Saturday at Augusta could think like that, much less speak it.

 

I’ll never ever forget Butch’s short succinct response, basically cuz I wrote it in my golf diary that evening, lolol

 

After I asked him the above question, he looked down at his sandwich on the table in front of him, then back at me and said only “yep,” with a sad slow affirmative shake of his head.

 

My response to Butch?

 

”F*ck, that’s incredible. Unbelievable”

 

His response, verbatim....

 

“I would not have believed it if I didn’t witness it”

 

So there is my thought on Greg Norman, the Man, the Player & the Champion.

 

In his mind he did not see himself as a Masters Champion and when under the gun on Sunday, and there were a few of those Augusta Sunday’s, that belief became cold hard fact!!

 

I look at things differently today than I did when I was in my late 20’s and 30’s when I encountered Norman. While Madison has encountered and spoken to him over the past 4-5 years down in Florida(my encounters with Norman were “Pre-Maddie,” lolol), I have not however if I ever do run into him again, while he probably won’t remember me though he might cuz of our encounter that day in our clubhouse locker room, ??, I will just congratulate him on a career well Played.

 

He may not be the greatest guy in the world, though none of us know exactly what transpired in his life to cause him to behave as he has and does however one thing is certain, at least as far as I am concerned...

 

Greg Norman was a Great Champion?

 

He was just not a Masters Champion?

 

Great post Obes?

 

Stay at Well Brother and have a Great season⛳️

Richard

[bsuwara]

Great post and story Richard ... Be well!

[ThinkingPlus]

So I could be wrong about this, but I remember the announcers indicating that Greg played 3W on 18 to stay short of the bunker. However, he had so much adrenaline that he pounded that 3W which ran and ran and ran into the bunker. That is what I recall.

[Forged4ever]

 

ThinkingPlus  2286Posted: Mar 15 2020 8:10PMWRX Points: 1,228Handicap: 0.6Chris52Mar 9, 2020

Norman was the biggest bottler in the game and had poor course management when it mattered.

For example the open in 89 Shoots 64 to get into a play off , then tied with calacavecchia with the last hole of play off to go he hits his shot from a bunker out of bounds to hand the title to calacaveccia all because he made the wrong choice off the tee by taking driver and hitting the fairway bunker ,then hitting another bunker,and then the disastrous shot out of bounds from the bunker.

 

 

So I could be wrong about this, but I remember the announcers indicating that Greg played 3W on 18 to stay short of the bunker. However, he had so much adrenaline that he pounded that 3W which ran and ran and ran into the bunker. That is what I recall.

—————————————————-

I could not get “quote” to drop your post down for me to respond TP, so I did the basic copy/paste job. I like the WRX Lady Ninja?

 

He also “nutted” a gorgeous 3i on the 223yd 17th(3rd Play-off hole), or in “Calc” speak, “over purred” it, lolol, sending it 45’ past the pin, just into the rough and instead of using his putter, he chipped it, sending it 10’ by on the sandy dry green, and he missed the come back.

 

Regarding his bunkered drive on the 4th playoff hole, #18, he was using his driver, and I believe that it’s been stated above me however at the time Norman was #1 in driving distance and #3 in accuracy in the world, he had hit driver his previous 4 trips around the hole, hit four fairways and with fair conditions that day, not taking a driver was not even a choice for him, or anyone in his position, nor should it have been.

 

He hit an intentional hard cut through the light wind down the right side and his caddie at the time time, Bruce Edwards, said “beauty Greg,” as Norman bent down to pick up the tee, not noticing until he heard moans from the gallery that his ball had reached the bunker and Jack Nicklaus, who was on the ABC telecast, chirped “Oh my gosh, he reached the unreachable bunker."

 

That is Jack Nicklaus calling it “unreachable.!!”

 

That was a “HARD CUT” drive, lolol?(Bruce Edwards words post Tourney).

 

As Sam would say when questioned about his club selection, specifically his driver, and he was an obscenely long and accurate driver in his day, once out driving the much shorter hitting Paul Runyan by 102 yards, a measured 342yds to Runyan’s 240yds, “I gotta dance with who brung me.” His and Norman’s driver won them and put them in position to win many more Tourneys than it cost em.

 

 

THAT is what made Greg Norman Greg Norman, the #1 Player on earth, the #1 driver on earth and one of the greatest ball strikers under the gun EVER!!

 

Yea, sometimes Norman choked.

 

Yea, sometimes he made a poor club selection or course management decision.

 

And yea, sometimes Norman just hit a poor shot at an inopportune time.

 

Sh*t happens~

 

They call it Golf?

 

However, sometimes, like Bob Tway’s final decisive swing & bunker shot in the 1986 PGA Championship, Larry Mize's 140-foot chip in the 1987 Masters, David Frost's bunker shot in the 1990 USF&G Classic or Robert Gamez’s 7-iron in the 1990 Nestle Invitational just flat out beat Norman.

 

They beat Norman, he didn’t beat himself.

 

Sh*t happens~

 

They call it Golf?

 

Each of these outlandishly spectacular shots cost Greg Norman a Victory, two of them Majors, one a green jacket.

 

You won’t talk to a Player familiar with either Norman or the ‘89 British Open that would question his takin a driver on the hole or call his 3i on 17 anything other than unfortunate, or as Calc called it, “over purred,” a shot that EVERY Player, Am or Pro, has hit, and hit myriad times over a career.

 

It was easy to stand in a gallery or sit in front of a TV screen at home or at some 19th hole with other sheeple?? and chirp about Norman’s or some other Player’s club selections, course management skills or latest “choke” when Norman and really ANY guy or gal that they’re watching and critiquing has reached athletic and professional heights that we can’t even fantasize about, much less be in a credible position to give legitimate criticisms, viewpoints or opinions.

 

Just cuz some yahoo would hit a 7i instead of a driver to keep it in the short hair doesn’t mean that the top Player on earth should do the “less club= better choice,” when he can control that club and ball landing 300yds+ away better than most can control a pen on a pad of paper in front of em, lolol

 

I wish ya a great season TP, and expect to see ya back on the Plus side?

 

Cheers?

RP

 

 

 

 

[ThinkingPlus]

Thought I might have have misremembered. Cap changes so fast these days it is hard to keep up. I snuck just over the line last week to a +0.4. Probably flop the other way unless I can get my trail foot to quit dancing early. Always hope you are doing well.

[Nard_S]

I love Norman the way I love big 80's hair. He was tacky, tacky like a Dynasty cast character. Highly flawed guy but man did he have talent. He's highly maligned and held in contempt these days, probably deserved, Despite that I admire him for the force he was in the game.. Today's tour watched Tiger, no doubt Tiger watched Norman. How could he not? Did the old man seek out Harmon because of his affiliation with Greg? His VHS tutorials are some of the best that were available at that time and still stand up in our swing monitor culture. His wins in The Open were exceptional, his driving in one of them was flat out the best I ever watched. His irons were 1960's tech with square grooves. He played a crazy high spinning ball that made a Tour 100 seem like Top-Flite distance ball. It somewhat amazing he did not "choke" more. He lost majors by being on the short end of miracle play. He lost a boatload of tournaments spinning the ball off the green. GUOAT. Greatest under achiever of all time, he was, but the dude could rocket the ball like few to this day could only dream.

[PedronNiall]

To be fair Jordan wasn't really all that affable, he just kept his private life private better than Tiger. Both a more tolerant media and less of a 24-hour news cycle helped keep Jordan in the clear, though he also didn't do things like get outed as a horrible tipper, and bottom line is people take that old adage about it's how you treat the most common of common people that really says who you are. I do agree that it's perception that kept him from perhaps banking even more, but maybe he didn't want to pursue much more, anyway. He's been on the Wheaties box, in EA commercials, repped Buick for obscene amounts of money, became the face or relevancy for Nike in golf, and so on. I don't know how much more full he really wanted hos plate to be, but I think he would have continued at that peak for quite some time if not for Clubgate.

P.S. apologies to the guppy for turning this thread "about" you into a focus on Tiger.

I have no idea why this didn't post when I first attempted to reply, but anyway

 

[Nard_S]

https://www.golf.com/news/2020/04/06/greg-norman-tiger-woods-masters-congratulations/?fbclid=IwAR38NFq5tFhh5lWjGOseSfzQvlesexnpOshIhX6jpkezEBKk_HnsWEkPVKA

[PedronNiall]

Love how they throw the little note in there about the DUI arrest. Lets make sure to ding DJ for his issues years down the road as well. I don't know why the golf media even tries at times if they're just going to foul up what could be an otherwise good take on new insight into a situation.

Anyway, it's clear that Tiger's a busy guy and handwritten note or not, he doesn't have time to get back to everyone outside of his inner circle. He was cordial with Norman, letting go of many snide remarks the shark has made about him, which is more adult than many of us might be after someone had so publicly taken digs at us. Tiger's life isn't much different for it and maybe now Norman will feel satisfied; happy endings all around.

[Man_O_War]

i just rewatched the 1997 Masters.s..this time i pulled for Faldo...same outcome though.

[bscinstnct]

What was Norman looking for? To be pen pals?

 

He wrote TW a nice note. That’s good and he should be happy he did so without getting a reply and going to yell his story to the media. When he saw TW, TW thanked him and they had a good chat.

 

Odd....

 

 

[cardoustie]

The most amazing thing to me that is often overlooked is Norman throwing away a playoff vs Jack in the 1986 Masters.

He made an incredible rally on the back 9 (seeing Jack's scores ahead of him making his charge) only to mega block that iron into 18 and make bogey

That was the choke more so than the Faldo showdown

[cardoustie]

Well Greg got his facetime with Tiger, he should be able to relax now

[Man_O_War]

absolutely..nothing Norman has done beats 1996 Masters. not even close..by his own standards.

 

Norman talent wise was waaayy up there with anyone in the history of the game. Just not the best between the ears

[gvogel]

I think that Tiger is aging much better than Norman. A whole bunch of majors versus 2 majors might be the difference.

Today, for example, I learned that Tiger is feeling pretty good, had a food fight with the family after their "Masters dinner". And he is riding a bike for exercise.

I happen to like people who ride bikes for exercise. So I am starting to like Tiger. ;)

[MUNIGRIT]

Yeah Phil had a pretty amazing career at all levels. Way more successful at golf than Greg. I like Greg too even if he is a bit type A narcissist. You kind of have to be in that field.

[boywithapple]

Norman is a choke artist. He knows it and everyone else knows it, so he carries a chip on his shoulder. He wants Tiger to respect him but Normie doesn't even respect himself.

[MUNIGRIT]

Everyone should follow Greg on Instagram whether you like him or not. If you don't like him you definitely need to follow him

[MUNIGRIT]

John Daly has a great collection of guitars and concert memorabilia that many musicians have gave him and he has bought over the years.

[Ferguson]

Alec Prostec of the Hollywood Reporter:

Despite minor posting stumbles to the unstructured and ill-compared, the Norman Obsession thread makes an artful persuasive case for the value of good intentions. For this kind of uplift, you don’t need an airship.

Mel Masky of the Chicago Tribune touts:

It would be an insult to call this thread overturned garden soil, because unlike most specimens of this genre, the story seems to emerge organically from Norman’s dreams of unmet success. Both structurally and thematically, comparisons to Norman's career are probably inevitable. (In each post, the WRX family is profoundly challenged by a topic suffering from a debilitating condition; the love/hate relationship of Norman/Norman and Norman/Golf and Norman/Tiger). But the references to the letter, written like brush strokes on canvas, with a youthful perspective make the Normans’ Obsession thread feel very much of the moment — this moment.

Barb Bendix of the Orlando Script proclaims:

The Norman Obsession Thread takes its title from letters Norman writes to Tiger, for himself, as therapy. The thread is so utterly satisfying it deserves a thank you note sent first class overnight mail to Norman and Tiger.

[bscinstnct]

 

Nice. Hey. Check this out, Ferg. I was looking for something to put on the bed to put my feet on when doing elevated pushups and look what I found on a golf bag. Totally forget about these.

 

Odd that the great white towel is attached to the victory red lahinch towel, lol.

 

[Hawkeye77]

So am I - he absolutely did wilt/misfire/miscalculate under pressure a few times (not talking about the miracle shots that beat him). He absolutely should have at least four majors if not more.

[Ferguson]

 

It's like a piece of art.

 

[Hawkeye77]

I couldn't believe watching it how bad he hit his 4 iron and still was very afraid he was going to get it up and down. He did make quite a comeback from some f-ups earlier in the round, but still. And that was his pattern and miss under pressure.

The Faldo match wilting for me was such a bigger choke - just a slow motion train wreck that was really hard to watch, and I had my lunch and already had the snacks ready for what I thought would be his ceremonial march to victory. Now years later Norman said he had a back issue and maybe the wife wasn't being supportive that day, lol, etc., so who knows, but he was spinning balls of the front of greens, huge f-up at 12, wide left as was his big miss on some other holes at Augusta, and just was a mess all afternoon.

There was at least one more Masters, frankly, I watched over the weekend and can't remember which one that he coulda/shoulda but maybe being too harsh on that one.

For all his wins, bravado and talent pressure in the majors wasn't a good recipe for him. But easy for me to say, I've never stepped even an inch in his shoes and I always really, really enjoyed watching him.