With abundant energy and enthusiasm, Greg Norman, the Great White Shark, devoured an hour’s worth of phone calls from fans on Tuesday on the appropriately named Attack Life Radio Live on Sirius XM Radio.
From Tiger Woods to the COVID-19 global pandemic to fitness tips to the origin of his nickname, Norman fielded questions from all across the U.S.
“Game on,” the two-time major champion and world No. 1 for 331 weeks said at the beginning. “Bring it on.”
And on came the questions. Among the many – here’s a shocker – was one that dealt with Tiger Woods. Specifically, the first time he met and played with Woods.
“Played with Tiger down here at Old Marsh Golf Club (in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida) when I think he was 15 years old. Got a call from some people, because I was No. 1 player at the time in the world, and they wanted me to play with him and for me to give my opinion on Tiger,” Norman, 65, said. “So I played nine holes with him and I like, wow. This kid is going to go a long way.
“He was a sponge for information. He wanted to beat you, no matter if he was 15 years old. He just wanted to prove a point that no matter who you are or whether you’re No. 1, I’m going to come after you. Which was very, very positive to see.”
Who won, the follow-up question came.
“You know, I can’t remember,” Norman said. “I really can’t remember.”
Here are some of Norman’s other takes on a variety of subjects.
How he’s dealing with the COVID-19 global pandemic
“I’m dealing with it OK. The whole world is in this fight together. I’ve had businesses shut down. I feel for my people who have worked for me for years and years and years to experience this. But I’ve come out of this with a sense of calm in a lot of ways because this is a bit of a wakeup call for the whole universe to say. ‘Hey, it’s going to happen again.’ How you come out of this one is going to determine how you are going to be prepared for the next one. I don’t like anybody kicking the can down the road. From the doctors and the nurses and health care workers and first responders to the military, to every country around the world, each and everyone of these people are putting their lives on the line for us. I’m a big admirer. I’m just trying to manage the process myself, both mentally and physically, and go through it day by day and not try and get ahead of myself. I know we’ll come out of it. Humanity is much stronger and very intelligent and very resilient in a lot of ways, so we will come out of it.”
How he got his nickname
“It was 1981. My first Masters I ever played in. Lo and behold, I’m leading the Masters after two rounds. And here’s a long blonde-headed Aussie kid with the really thick Australian accent that nobody really knew who the heck he was. So I go into the press room on a Friday night and everybody wants to know where I’m from. Well, I grew up in Queensland, Australia. I grew up on the Great Barrier Reef. I’ve dived with sharks. And lo and behold, (the Great White Shark name) was in the (Atlanta-Journal Constitution the next day).
Why he didn’t play much senior tour golf
“I just got sick and tired of staying in hotel rooms from a Tuesday through a Sunday and just traveling, quite honestly. When I cut playing golf out of my schedule, I actually had 50 percent more time for myself, which was a big deal. And on top of that, my business was really kicking off, my brand was kicking off, and I just wanted to focus on building that out. I didn’t want to be out there on the senior tour for another five or 10 years just going through the motions. I really lost a lot of passion to practice and to play. I still enjoyed playing, but the passion to really perform at the highest level wasn’t there. I just quietly rode off into the sunset without any fanfare.”
Fitness recommendations for someone coming out of the winter season
“Very easy. Stretching. Start getting your hamstrings stretched out, your lower back stretched out and your quads stretched out. All those things. And I would start working on squeezing a tennis ball, getting your finger strength back up. Because people forget about that when you’re hanging onto a golf club and you’re swinging, and I don’t care if your swinging it 80 mph or 120 mph, the finger strength is going to want to do it. Another great (exercise) that I used to do in my gym was I used to have a big barrel of rice that was about two feet deep and I would put both hands in there and I’d work my fingers down all the way down to the bottom of the barrel and it would just really build up your finger strength and your forearm strength. You have to elongate your muscles.”
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