Greg Norman spectacle in the first round of masters last year.
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For the second year in a row, Golf Miami is doing a week before the masters. Liv is in TrumpFormerly a PGA Tour fortress, but that was then. Recently there are many of those in Golf.
Thirteen Livsters are playing in Master Next week. Seven green dressed in: Sergio Garcia, Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson, Jon Rahm, Patrick Reed, Charl Schwartzel and Bubba watson. Three others (Bryson Dechambeau, Brooks Koepka and Cameron Smith) provided Thursday Thursday-Friday Augusta Times with victory at other Grand Slam events. And the last three, Tyrrell Hatton from England, Adrian Meronk from Poland and Joaquin Niemann of Chile, entered through an open-Mic competition.
Last year, it was another vest that went from the Miami event to the Augusta event, though not as a player: Greg Norman. Norman, now 70 years old and capable as never before, was the Liv Golf Commissioner and CEO by January. He attended the masters of 2024 as a payer spectator, though, according to tradition, the former leaders are invited by the club to participate in the tournament. This year, Norman is not in hand and there is no reason to think that he will be in Augusta, or. The march of time. Two places that will forever be associated with Norman are Doral, where he won three times, and Augusta, where he had three second place conclusions.
Last year, at the Liv event in Trump Doral, wherever he returned, he had the shark. (In his game of play, Caddies Tour did not say “Shark”. He was shark.) You’ve seen him in Range Driving, in Dorelving restaurants, in the course, at the Sunday award ceremony.
I went to the Liv event in Miami last year, mainly to play in pro-am, collecting verse for a new book. (This steals open by George Plimpton and his classic pro-am Life newspaper, Wise man.) I played in pro-am as a guest. On the way, I ate some excellent meals in dining of players-family-caddie and heard a caddy describe the new garden he was designing for his home. I went to a Saturday-Nata tour concert and heard a loud rapper called Akon. And, during the pro-am round, I liked the advice of experts from Caddy, Mac Barnhardt, who was getting a slide from his regular work, life training Andy OgleTreeGolf and Hyflyer. OgleTree was our first pro-am.
Last night, in the pro-am party, Greg Norman was dance. Ok, not a dancer but the Livi Commissioner and at the door when I arrived in the tent. “Come here, you one – a hole,” Norman said, giving me a hug. I’ve always had a nice relationship with Norman. He knows that I am a brave traditionalist who thinks that the serious golf of the tournament should be played with full fields over four rounds with a cut. He does not seem to hold it against me.
I saw a lot of Norman at the height of his powers and since then. He has been one of the most charismatic figures in the game. As a reporter, I have found that he will answer almost every question you ask. Last month, I asked about the final punctuation sign from 1996 masters. That was the year he was the 54-year leader over Nick Faldo with six, but after 72 holes, Faldo had won five over Norman. The 18th hug, the two separated men were extraordinary, because they were not the French-they had no love for the other. It mystifies Norman to this day.
“Faldo was a puzzle focused on itself, which made him the player he was,” Norman told me. “So I can’t explain the hug. Let’s say it was a by -product of values that golf carries, not the players.” What a sincere and penetrating thing to say.
I can’t explain the hug. Let’s say it was a by -product of the values that the golf carries, not the players.
Greg Norman
Some people have wondered if those Master’s invitations to former leaders are a real thing. Most are – if you are not Greg Norman.
A fun aside for this. Jeff Sluman, winner of the 1988 PGA Championship, played in Masters 17 times between 1988 and 2007. He knew he had not qualified to play in the masters of 2008, but one day an invitation to Augusta National House arrived at Sluman House in Suburban Chicago.
“So you ARE playing? “Linda Sluman, an oncologist, asked her husband.
“No, heart,” Sluman said. “I was invited to take part Masters, not play in it. “
Many former champions participate in the master. In each specified year, you can see Lou Graham (Winner of the US Open 1975) or David Graham (Winner of the US Open 1981) at Campus in Augusta. It is an effective way to deliver the old game from one generation to another. For years, you will see Jerry Pate playing on the PAR-3 tournament.
But don’t go looking for Jeff Sluman in Augusta. (His opinion is that when he was played, it was time to clean the scene.) And don’t go to look for Greg Norman.
Norman tried to launch a World Golf Tour in 1995 and never gave up the idea. Thirty years later, it would be easy to say that none of this could have been foreseen. Well, here’s a person who wouldn’t say this: Jack Nicklaus.
In his 1997 autobiography, My storyNicklaus wrote carefully about the prospect for a world tour. If you have the book, you can find the relevant section on pages 326 to 328. Here is a paragraph from it:
“Despite the abortion attempt at the beginning of 1995 to start a” Tour World “, my assumption is that the final resolution of the closed -door issue will accompany the evolution of such entity in one form or another. This is because some kind of world golf circuit is such a logical product of golf internationalization.”
Here is another person who saw him coming: Greg Norman.
Michael Bamberger writes for Golf Magazine and Golf.com. Before that he spent nearly 23 years as an elderly writer for Sports Illustrated. After the college, he worked as a reporter of the newspaper, first for (Martha’s) Vineyard newspaper, later Philadelphia Inquirer. He wrote a variety of books for golf and other subjects, the most recent of which is Tiger Woods’ second life. His magazine’s work is presented in numerous editions of the best American sports writing. He holds an American patent on E-CLUB, a Golf of Service Club. In 2016, he was awarded the Donald Ross award from the American Society of Golf Course Architects, the highest honor of the organization.
