Greg Norman
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Greg Norman (born February 10, 1955 in Queensland, Australia), is an Australian professional golfer who spent 331 weeks as the world's number one ranked golfer in the 1980s and 1990s.
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Career outline
Norman began his career as a trainee in the Royal Queensland golf shop, earning AUD 38 a week. The first professional tournament he won was the 1976 West Lakes 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. Despite "The Great White Shark"'s (a reference to a shark inhabiting Australian waters as well as Norman's size and blonde locks) huge success on the US PGA TOUR and many wins in other events around the world, Norman will be forever regarded as underachieving given his talents by missing out in The Masters, US Open, and PGA Championship. He was equally a victim of his own bad luck, good luck on the part of his fellow golfers (losing a near-certain PGA Championship win in 1986 after Bob Tway holed a bunker shot, and losing The Masters the following year in a playoff by an even more miraculous 45-yard chip shot from Larry Mize), and a couple of infamous "chokes" where Norman's wobble-prone putting got the better of him. To underscore this point, in 1986, he led all four majors after the third round, but only won The Open. Norman's most infamous "choke" may be the 1996 version of The Masters, where he blew a six-stroke lead in the final round and lost the tournament to Nick Faldo by five strokes. He has twenty nine top ten finishes in majors.
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 but extending well beyond. Whilst continuing to play tournaments, 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 US dollars.
Norman's hobbies include offshore game fishing—he has owned a succession of increasingly large and luxurious boats (though his latest may best be described as a small ship) for the purpose. Based in Hobe Sound, Florida, he typically plays only one or two tournaments per year in his homeland.
He married his American (?) wife Laura in 1981 and has two children.
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.
Results in major championships
Norman had twenty nine top ten finishes in the majors between 1979 and 1999. In 2005 he qualified to play on the Champions Tour. He will probably continue to enter some majors as a senior, but he is unlikely to contend for further major titles.
| Tournament | 1977 | 1978 | 1979 | 1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 | 1990 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Masters Tournament | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | 4 | T36 | T30 | T25 | T47 | T2 | 2 | T5 | T3 | CUT |
| U.S. Open | DNP* | DNP* | DNP* | DNP | T33 | DNP | T50 | 2 | T15 | T12 | T51 | WD | T33 | T5 |
| British Open | T71 | T29 | T10 | CUT | T31 | T27 | T19 | T6 | T16 | 1 | T33 | DNP | T2 | T6 |
| PGA Championship | DNP* | DNP* | DNP* | DNP | T4 | T5 | T42 | T39 | CUT | 2 | 70 | T9 | T12 | T19 |
| Tournament | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Masters Tournament | CUT | T6 | T31 | T18 | T3 | 2 | CUT | CUT | 3 | T11 | CUT | T36 | DNP | DNP |
| U.S. Open | WD | DNP | CUT | T6 | 2 | T10 | CUT | DNP | CUT | CUT | DNP | T59 | DNP | DNP |
| British Open | T9 | 18 | 1 | T11 | T15 | T7 | T36 | DNP | 6 | DNP | DNP | T18 | T18 | CUT |
| PGA Championship | T32 | T15 | 2 | T4 | T20 | T17 | T13 | DNP | CUT | CUT | T29 | T53 | CUT | DNP |
DNP = did not play
DNP* = probably did not play, but unconfirmed. Certainly didn't finish in the top ten, as tally of 29 top 10 finishes shown is correct.
WD = started but withdrew
CUT = missed the half way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place.
PGA Tour wins
- 1984 Kemper Open, Canadian Open
- 1986 Panasonic Las Vegas Invitational, Kemper Open, British Open Championship
- 1988 CI Heritage Golf Classic
- 1989 The International, Greater Milwaukee Open
- 1990 Doral-Ryder Open, Memorial Tournament
- 1992 Canadian Open
- 1993 Doral-Ryder Open, British Open Championship
- 1994 The Players Championship
- 1995 Memorial Tournament, Canon Greater Hartford Open, NEC World Series of Golf
- 1996 Doral-Ryder Open
- 1997 FedEx St. Jude Classic, NEC World Series of Golf
European Tour wins
- 1977 Martini International
- 1979 Martini International
- 1980 Paco Rabanne Open de France, Scandinavian Enterprise Open, State Express Classic, Benson & Hedges International
- 1981 Martini International, Dunlop Masters
- 1982 Dunlop Masters, State Express English Classic, Benson & Hedges International Open
- 1986 The Open Championship, Panasonic European Open
- 1988 Lancia Italian Open
- 1993 The Open Championship
- 1994 Johnnie Walker Classic
Wins in Australasia
- 1976 Westlakes Classic
- 1978 New South Wales Open, Traralgon Classic, Caltex Festival of Sydney Open, South Seas Classic
- 1979 Traralgon Classic
- 1980 Australian Open
- 1981 Australian Masters
- 1983 Australian Masters, Stefan Queensland Open, National Panasonic New South Wales Open
- 1984 Victorian Open, Australian Masters, Australian PGA
- 1985 Toshiba Australian PGA Championship, National Panasonic Australian Open
- 1986 Stefan Queensland Open, National Panasonic New South Wales Open, West End Jubilee South Australian Open, National Panasonic Western Australian Open
- 1987 Australian Masters, National Panasonic Australian Open
- 1988 Palm Meadows Cup, ESP Open, PGA National Tournament Players Championship, Panasonic New South Wales Open
- 1989 Australian Masters, PGA National Tournament Players Championship
- 1990 Australian Masters
- 1995 Australian Open
- 1996 Ford South Australian Open, Australian Open
- 1998 Greg Norman Holden International
Other wins
- 1977 Kuzuhz International (Japan)
- 1979 Hong Kong Open
- 1980 Suntory World Match Play Championship (England - not a European Tour event at that time)
- 1983 Hong Kong Open, Cannes Invitational (France - not a European Tour event), Suntory World Match Play Championship (England - not a European Tour event at that time), Kapalua International (United States)
- 1985 Alfred Dunhill Cup (United Kingdom - team)
- 1986 Suntory World Match Play Championship (England - not a European Tour event at that time), Alfred Dunhill Cup (United Kingdom - team), PGA Grand Slam of Golf
- 1989 Chunichi Crowns (Japan)
- 1993 Taiheyo Masters (Japan), PGA Grand Slam of Golf (U.S. - unofficial event)
- 1994 PGA Grand Slam of Golf (U.S. - unofficial event)
- 1995 Fred Meyer Challenge (with Brad Faxon)
- 1996 Fred Meyer Challenge (with Brad Faxon)
- 1997 Fred Meyer Challenge (with Brad Faxon), Andersen Consulting World Championship.
- 1998 Franklin Templeton Shootout (with Steve Elkington)
- 2001 Skins Game
See also
External links
- Shark.com (http://www.shark.com/) Greg Norman's official personal and business web site
- Profile on the PGA Tour's website (http://www.pgatour.com/players/bio/132080)
- Greg Norman at Golf Stars Online (http://www.golfstarsonline.com/N/Greg_Norman/) Directory of interviews, sites and feature articles with or about Greg Norman
- Greg Norman on About.com (http://golf.about.com/od/golfersmen/p/greg_norman.htm) Profile and stats
- Greg Norman on MacGregor Golf (http://www.macgregorgolf.com/tour/tour_display.aspx?s=p&b=gn) Norman on MacGregor Golf's Tour Staffja:グレグ・ノーマン