Norman stays afloat despite the pain

AFTER a break of more than five and a half weeks, Greg Norman will be returning to competitive action tomorrow when he starts the defence of the Memorial title at Muirfield Village. And it appears that despite getting away from it all on his boat "Aussie Rules," the pain of a dramatic US Masters collapse in the formidable shadow of Nick Faldo, is still acute.

Norman has admitted as much in a typically candid interview with Australian radio. "The Monday afterwards I felt okay, but on the Tuesday I began to feel angry," he said. "Then, while on my boat for three weeks after Hilton Head, I thought about it every day."

His torment was obvious as he continued: "`Why did it happen?' I kept asking myself and I think I have come up with a pretty good idea of what went wrong. When something is awry, you've got to go out and fix it. My problem at Augusta was certainly more a mental than a physical thing and I've been trying to figure it out, simply because I love the game."

Then came the heartfelt admission: "I do want to win the Masters. I'm going to win it one day because I can taste it. . . I can feel (it) . . . I can touch it."

Faldo has maintained a commendably discreet silence as to the reasons behind a collapse which saw Norman squander a six-shot lead by the time he reached the 12th tee in the final round. He has left the analysing to others, among them British colleague Colin Montgomerie, who has no doubt that Norman's problems were caused by the pressure of Faldo's intimidating presence as a playing partner on that fateful Sunday.

Now, the so-called Shark was offering his views. "I've won many, many tournaments either when leading or coming from behind and there have also been times when I've lost in those situations," he said. "So it's definitely a mental thing. Past experiences should have provided a guard for me against shooting a 78. That's probably what has made me so angry.

"I can play poorly and still get the job done but that day (he laid telling emphasis on those last two words) I played poorly and didn't get the job done. That was more annoying than the outcome of the overall deal (another Masters failure).

"But the support I've received has been overwhelming. As Laura (his wife) said, You know what? The ironic thing about all this is that you're more popular now for losing than winning ... and if you'd won, you would have isolated yourself even more. That's one of those ironic twists of life."

There has also been a downside which the Shark can seemingly face with the same equanimity. He admitted: "I've never said this in public before, but when you get some reporter who writes a disparaging remark or article about you, you ask: `How many Pulitzer Prizes has he won?' It's their inability to reach that standard which makes them want to tear you down.

"There are other people who only see what happens on the surface. They conveniently forget that I was earning $28 a week when I started out. They don't understand the motives behind the work I do, but you're always going to have your critics. There's just the built-in chemistry of certain people who are jealous for other reasons as well."

He went on: "Nobody gets a free ride. Sure, when I play a practice round and people are out there following me, there's a great buzz, like being an actor on a stage. But if you're going to be a personality of some sort, there's a huge sacrifice to be made in terms of your privacy.

"People don't really understand. Just because they see you on television they feel they can reach out to touch you or grab you in real life. Like they're saying I own a piece of this guy. Admittedly, they're probably right in a way. But I don't think they realise how overwhelming it becomes, day after day, 52 weeks of the year. That's why I enjoy getting out on my boat and anchoring off-shore and being quiet ... with my family."

Events in the MCI Heritage Classic at Hilton Head on April 18th to 21st - where Norman was tied 22nd on the weekend after the Masters - suggested that the American golfing public retain tremendous goodwill towards him. And he certainly has the respect of leading Australian colleagues, notably Wayne Grady who shared with Norman the disappointment at losing a play-off to Mark Calcavecchia for the 1989 British Open at Royal Troon.

Referring to events at Augusta, Grady said: "If it had been me, I'd have slashed my wrists." The winner of the 1990 USPGA Championship at Shoal Creek went on: "People genuinely feel for him, mainly because of the way he handled himself and stayed and talked to everyone after the Masters. In my view he deserves everyone's respect."

Norman's challenge this weekend and during the months ahead, will be to prove that his nerves are sufficiently intact to make him worthy of that support. Grady has no doubts on the subject. "I'm sure a lot of good things will come out of this for Greg," he said. "I certainly expect him to get over it quickly and go on to play the sort of golf that has made him an ornament to the game."

Meanwhile, given his recent putting problems, there was a certain inevitability about the ending at Wentworth last weekend of Bernhard Langer's remarkable sequence of cuts made on the European Tour. Indeed it will be some time before the record of 68 is surpassed, given that the leading challenger at this stage is the troubled Jose-Maria Olazabal, with 22.

Langer's glorious run, which started and ended in the Volvo PGA Championship, 1991 to 1996, contained some stunning statistics. In those 68 events, he won nine times and finished in the top-10 on an astonishing 36 occasions. In 272 rounds, he was 499 under par for a stroke-average of 69.7 to earn £2,013,394-£29,608 per tournament.

On the other side of the Atlantic, the USPGA Tour record is held, not surprisingly, by Jack Nicklaus with 105. Interestingly, two other Americans surpassed Langer's streak - Hale Irwin with 86 and Dow Finsterwald with 72.