In Eerie Masters Redux, Norman All Class

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- And to think it was supposed to be a post-honeymoon lark, a chance for Greg Norman and his bride, a tennis player of some sort, to have fun and experience a British Open. Little did they know their side trip would take a crazy turn toward a haunted place and time. When he shocked the golf world and played well last summer at Royal Birkdale, flirting with a Claret Jug until the end, Norman had no idea a third-place finish qualified him for ... the Masters?
For most men in his craft, it would be a dream.

For him, it seemed the ultimate booby prize, prank and cruel joke.

"I didn't even know that I qualified for Augusta until I walked into the press room, and I didn't believe it when somebody told me as I walked off the 72nd green,'' said Norman, still sounding incredulous. "I said, 'No way I qualified for Augusta,' and I kept on doing interviews. It wasn't until someone reconfirmed it during the press conference that I said, 'OK.' I'd never even thought about it.''

Why would he? This is where one of the great talents and dynamic personalities of modern golf succumbed to nerves, pressure and all-time cases of the yips. This is where he pushed an iron wide on the 18th hole in 1986, opening history's gates for a charging Jack Nicklaus and his unfathomable green jacket at age 46. This is where he watched Larry Mize, staring at 140 feet of real estate that Norman assumed would require three shots, chip in and rip out Norman's heart in a 1987 playoff. And this is where Norman went splash on two par 3s down the stretch in 1996, leading him to blow a six-shot lead, shoot 78 and lose to Nick Faldo by five strokes in what remains the biggest choke ever in a major championship. The only notion crazier than Norman ever allowing Augusta National into his brainstream was the idea he actually would return to his personal hell, at 54, for another try.



Yet here he is, admirably enough, arriving not to confront his demons as much as acknowledge them after all these years while proving he didn't let the horrors ruin him. Yes, in many sporting minds, Norman is defined by his Masters failures more than his two British Open titles, 20 PGA Tour titles, 107 wins internationally and Great White Shark spirit. But the fact he showed up anyway, with Chris Evert beside him for her first spin around Amen Corner, speaks volumes about the man and his rich perspective on life.

So too did that hole-in-one he stuck in Wednesday's Par-3 contest, sending a message to everybody that the Shark is back in the Georgia waters.

"I put away all the negative stuff at Augusta, because I love all the positive stuff,'' Norman said. "I know people always revert back to the negative, and I always go back to the positive. They're like, 'Why didn't this course destroy Greg Norman?' I'm back because I love it.

"I think I share the balance of memories, good and bad, and it's important that you do that. Some of the bad stuff was self-inflicted, and some of it wasn't. I know I talk about it with Chrissie a lot because we like to kind of lament a lot over what we've done and haven't done. I probably talk more about the Masters than I do anything else when we have those conversations.''

In those therapeutic chats, Evert talks about her losses to lead rival Martina Navratilova. The difference, of course, is that Evert isn't primarily known for her failures. Sadly, Norman is to some degree. "It's interesting, because she went through 13 times getting beaten by Martina, and I went 22 times without winning the Masters. So I think I'm a little bit ahead of her on that one,'' he said, smiling.

"No matter how great a player you are, in whatever sport or respective field, you always go through negative and positives. It's good to talk about the negatives, because you don't need to keep them inside you.
People know that things did happen, and sometimes you play bad or sometimes you play great and somebody beats you. That's the game of golf. But at the same time, I've come away from here with a lot of good memories, too.''

He knows it's possible the old, wicked demons will resurface starting Thursday, that he could shoot a poor score and miss the cut and reopen wounds. To help prevent that slip-up, he has prepared diligently for several weeks, working much harder than he did before the British Open. His Australian countryman, Geoff Ogilvy, dared to predict his idol will be a factor come Sunday. Norman does not laugh at the suggestion. "Would I like to be there? Yes, of course I'd like to be there Sunday,'' said Norman, whose son, Gregory, will be his caddie.
"But I've got to take my expectations and manage them properly and see how it plays out.''

And the demons? "You've got to be strong-minded. As a professional athlete, you train yourself to let not even the good things fall into your head,'' he said. "You have to deal with what is at the task at hand right there and then. They never really do, to tell you the truth, when you're out there working your game, playing your game -- you never think about what happened in whatever year it was.

You just go ahead and do your thing. If you let the demons take control of you, then you're never going to do your job properly anyway. And every player has got demons. We all know we've made mistakes and hit the wrong shot at the wrong time, even though you have won a lot of golf tournaments. You've still got demons and you've still got to find them. That's the strength in the mind of an athlete, you just put them aside and do what you need to do.''

From Tiger Woods on down, colleagues are wishing him well this week. Such warm comments never were relayed in the 1980s, when the field was scared of his game and what he could accomplish if he ever conquered the choke jobs. He appreciates the sentiment. "I'd be lying if I said those things didn't give me some motivation,'' Norman said.

"It's really a great feeling. I've been a part of this tournament, whether it's good or bad, and people would have liked to see me have won the tournament, and I get that from some of the players to tell you the truth. It's difficult to really explain it, how it feels, because sometimes you come in and you think, okay, when I used to come in here in the '80s and '90s, and you expected to do well, people were pulling for you and other people were not pulling for you, too. Now it seems like everyone is pulling for me, which is nice.

"I was just in the locker room. Even the players are, 'Hey, play well, play well, play well. It really makes you understand the impact that I've had to some degree I have had on the event, and it makes you feel different in some ways. You're just another player in the field. You've earned your way in here, and everyone is trying to will me to do it. I'm just going to go out there and do the opposite of what I used to do; just go out there and have fun. I tried to go20and have fun in the past, but sometimes it didn't work out. But this time, I'm definitely going to go out and have fun.''

It helps to have Evert as his soulmate and shrink. You wonder if Norman would have won more majors than his two British Opens if they'd been together years ago.

"Chris has had a huge impact,'' he said. "When you've both been at the top of the heap -- she has been the No. 1 tennis player -- well, I made a comment to her when we were in Houston (last weekend). I said, 'You know, I wish I had your success rate, winning 91 percent of the time.' So when you have a conversation, she puts a totally different perspective on it from an athlete's perspective. From a balance standpoint, she's an athlete. Everything I like to do, she loves to do. We do everything together. She wants to learn things, and I want to learn things. She's a teacher, and I'm a teacher. She's a giver, and I'm a giver.

"So all of a sudden, one of the greatest things I think you can have with your partner in life is to do anything you want. If you want to go hiking the mountains of Tibet or the Himalayas, or ride a bike or do yoga or Pilates, it's a great thing to go say, 'Hey, let's go do that.' That creates a great sense of balance where you can enjoy doing something you love. She's trying to teach me to play tennis, and she wants to learn to play golf. It's going to be a great time for us, because she's a competitor and she wants to learn how to play, and that's where you go into a good balance. And when you go home, she knows when not to ask questions, especially questions about golf, and she knows when you need down time and when you're quiet. When somebody understands that, phew, that's pretty good.''

It's good to see him at peace when so much of his career has been torture. He has love and context and all the money a man would need. Wouldn't it be cool to see the Shark duel Woods late Sunday afternoon? You know, make the Augusta failures fade away into the dogwood trees?

"I think I learned more about myself by the failures here, and the way you conduct yourself,'' Norman said. "When I came in here (after flopping) in '96, nobody expected me to come in (to the interview room). I did and took it the way I'm supposed to. It wasn't a great experience, but you had to face the music. It taught me a lot, and taught a lot of players that how you conduct yourself after a victory is a lot different than the way you conduct yourself after a defeat -- and how you conduct yourself after a defeat is what makes you inside.

"I don't care what other people think of me, but how I feel inside. I know I felt pretty darned good about myself when I left this press room. That's how you look within yourself to become a better person.''

Contend or choke, I'm glad he's here. The circle is full now.