Paul Azinger is the perfect chap to meet for a round of cocktails at the 19 th hole. Face it, the guy likes to talk. Likes to laugh. Is passionate and intense. And does he have stories. In a life spanning 60 years now, Zinger won the 1993 PGA …
Paul Azinger is the perfect chap to meet for a round of cocktails at the 19th hole.
Face it, the guy likes to talk. Likes to laugh. Is passionate and intense. And does he have stories.
In a life spanning 60 years now, Zinger won the 1993 PGA Championship, 12 PGA Tour titles and two more on the European Tour. Captained the U.S. to victory in the 2008 Ryder Cup. Played on winning Ryder Cup teams in 1991 and 1993. Spent 300 weeks in the top 10.
He held his own against the best in the world, including Seve Ballesteros, Nick Faldo, Greg Norman, Jose Maria Olazabal, Ernie Els, Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and his late best friend, Payne Stewart.
And he kicked cancer’s butt.
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Now Azinger talks a great game as the lead analyst for NBC and Fox.
“Well, I love golf,” Azinger said in a chat with Golfweek. “I can’t tell you how much I love the sport and how much I love watching it. I love playing the game.”
While he’s “chomping at the bit” to get back to work, Azinger has kept busy sheltered at his home in Bradenton, Florida, since the COVID-19 global pandemic halted play on the PGA Tour in March.
“I just don’t let myself get bored as much as anything,” Azinger said. “Self-isolating isn’t too bad. I’ve done a lot of work around the house. I’m neater than I think I am. I can clean if I want to.”
The current state and the fear of the unknown concerning the coronavirus is mindful in some ways to Azinger’s successful battle against cancer that began in 1993 when lymphoma was discovered in his right shoulder blade. Chemotherapy and radiation treatments as well as Azinger’s perseverance conquered cancer.
“When I first heard the words, ‘You have cancer,’ immediately it was sort of a similarity to hearing there is a virus going around and we’re all going to have to shelter in place,” Azinger said. “When I heard what the treatment was for (cancer), that’s when I knew it was a big deal. This, you’re just trying to avoid the treatment.
“It’s a weird situation. For a long time there, we all but wondered if we could get it and could it make us sick enough that we could succumb. And that’s just a terrible feeling. And that was similar to the feeling I had when I had cancer, for sure.”
On a lighter note
Azinger’s love for motorcycles: “It’s a feeling of freedom.”
Playing against Tiger Woods at the zenith of his powers: “We were watching something we thought we would never see.”
His love for the Ryder Cup: “The whole patriotism aspect.”
Johnny Miller, Paul Azinger and Dan Hicks in the NBC booth during the third round of the 2019 Waste Management Phoenix Open. Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images
Azinger also addressed comments he made about Tommy Fleetwood and Lee Westwood ahead of the final round of this year’s Honda Classic that turned him into a European Tour punching bag. One word – that – got Azinger in trouble when he said you have to win on the PGA Tour. Fleetwood, a five-time winner on the European Tour, was trying to win his maiden PGA Tour title.
“A lot of pressure here,” Azinger said on the broadcast. “You’re trying to prove to everybody that you’ve got what it takes. These guys know, you can win all you want on that European Tour or in the international game and all that, but you have to win on the PGA Tour.”
That European Tour. Oops.
“I’m sure I’ll be some bulletin board material for them at the Ryder Cup,” Azinger said. “I respect all wins. I try to use good grammar when I’m in the booth and I failed big-time on that one. And it didn’t come off quite as I hoped.”
Eventually, Azinger will get back into the booth and is a long way from sitting in a rocking chair and reminiscing about a good life lived.
“I’m still looking to make today a great day, tomorrow a great day,” he said. “I want to continue to try and achieve in charitable ways, be better as a person. I want to contribute to the game of golf in whatever capacity I can. Try to make the game grow and help the game come back from this devastating virus.”
Scroll up to watch Steve DiMeglio’s discussion with Paul Azinger.
With abundant energy and enthusiasm, Greg Norman, the Great White Shark, devoured an hour’s worth of phone calls from fans on Tuesday.
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).
Fred Couples, Tiger Woods and Greg Norman at the 1996 Masters Tournament at the Augusta National Country Club. Photo by Stephen Munday/Allsport
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.”
The Official World Golf Ranking was introduced in 1986. Since its introduction, 21 different players have been ranked No. 1 in the world.
The Official World Golf Ranking was introduced in 1986.
The ranking takes into account a golfer’s performance over a rolling two-year period. The ranking is updated each week.
Since its inception, there have been 21 different players who have earned the No. 1 spot in the world ranking. You can probably guess who holds the title for the most weeks in the top spot. Some of the other names on this list may surprise you.
Here is the complete list of golfers who reached No. 1 in OWGR history and how long each of them was ranked in the top spot.
Lexi Thompson hitched a helicopter ride from Boca LPGA event to Orlando with Greg Norman to attend Demo Day at the PGA Merchandise Show.
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BOCA RATON, Fla. – Lexi Thompson played the back nine at Boca Rio Golf Club at 7:45 a.m. on Tuesday and then hitched a ride on Greg Norman’s helicopter at the local airport. They stopped at Medalist to pick up Norman and then headed north to Orlando for Demo Day at the PGA Merchandise Show.
“I was a little nervous at first because I’ve never been on one,” said Thompson, “but it was pretty amazing, I’m not gonna lie. Going over the water and everything was beautiful.”
Thompson sat in the back while Norman was up with the pilot. She could hear their exchanges as Norman landed the helicopter. Asked if she’d ever considered following in the footsteps of Peggy Kirk Bell or Arnold Palmer in getting a pilot’s license, Thompson said no, “That scares me.”
The new Gainbridge LPGA at Boca Rio marks the first time the LPGA has hosted an event in Boca Raton since 1989. Thompson lives 5 1/2 miles away from the course in Delray Beach. It takes about 10 to 15 minutes door to door, depending on the stoplights.
Thompson said she played Boca Rio twice ahead of this week. Both times the wind was blowing 35 mph. On Thursday, she’ll tee it up with Morgan Pressel, who also lives about 15 minutes away in nearby St. Andrews. Morgan’s younger sister Madison, a Symetra Tour player, is in the field as well. Both are members at Boca Rio.
“It’s probably one of the most difficult courses in the area,” said Pressel, “especially around the greens. Out there today, especially with it being so cold today, the greens almost went a little bit dormant and are super slick, so that will really I think make the rest of the week challenging.”
While Thompson’s mom, Judy, put in for 40 or so tickets for the week, Pressel said she’s been mostly passing them out to friends and family. Rounding out the 12:25 p.m. group is last week’s winner, Gaby Lopez.
Thompson plans to keep things low-key at her house in Delray. She’ll cook her own meals, go to her normal gym and hang out with her dog Leo. While she won’t be doing any entertaining, she will probably travel 15 minutes north to her parents’ house in Lake Worth to relax.
One thing she won’t be doing is watching brother Curtis on TV as he competes in Wednesday’s final round of the Korn Ferry Tour’s Bahamas Great Abaco Classic at Baha Mar. They’re a superstitious bunch, and since she was unable to watch coverage during previous rounds, she’s going to keep it the same and follow on live scoring. Curtis is inside the top 10 and within a few shots off the lead.
“It’s amazing what he’s done,” said Thompson. “Unfortunately, I got to see him go through some severe struggles with his game and mental state, but I just tried to be there for him. We all know – I know he’s the most talented person that I’ve ever seen in my life.”
See what PGA Tour stars past and present say about Jack Nicklaus as a friend, a mentor, a father figure and a sportsman.
As Jack Nicklaus turns 80, we asked some of those who know him well to give us a sense of what The Golden Bear has meant to them. Here are the responses of PGA Tour stars past and present who view Jack as a friend, a mentor, a father figure and a sportsman.
Greg Norman, Under Jack’s wing
Two-time major champion
“Jack’s books, Golf My Way and My 55 Ways to Lower Your Golf Score, were my instruction bibles. Without those books I’d probably be flying a jet somewhere. I’d have been a fighter pilot for the Royal Australian Air Force and then gone into commercial and private flying. Instead, I learned from his techniques and went from a 27 handicap to scratch and won my first professional tournament within five years of taking up the game.
I still remember the first time we met like it was yesterday. It was the Australian Open in 1976 and I’d just won my very first golf tournament the week before in Adelaide. Lo and behold I got paired with Jack and I was as nervous as a cat on a hot tin roof. I cold-topped my first tee shot. I’d never done that before. I’ll never forget he came up to me in the locker room afterwards and put his hand on my left knee and said I had the game to play in America.
Greg Norman and Jack Nicklaus at the 2001 Masters (Eileen Blass, USA TODAY)
From there, I kind of invited myself under his wing. He’s a humble man. He set the standard for all of us on how to be a professional and to never put yourself ahead of the game. Originally, I was living in Orlando, but I grew up near the ocean and missed the water and moved down by Jack and Barbara to Jupiter Island in 1988. One day, Jack called me up and said his friend was putting his home on the Intercoastal on the market and that I should take a look at it. I went and checked it out, bought it and I still live there today. So, it wouldn’t be an understatement to say that Jack’s been one of the most influential people in my life.”
Justin Thomas: ‘Almost like he’s a father to you’
12-time PGA Tour winner, including 2017 PGA Championship
“The first time I met him was in 2000 at the PGA Championship. I was 7 years old. I remember he did a clinic. I was fortunate to go to the clinic because my dad was working for the PGA of America. I remember (Nicklaus) was talking to someone and I was standing there listening to him talk and I held my hat up. And I remember Mr. Nicklaus signed my hat and I was bragging in school the next day how I got the greatest golfer of all time’s signature. And everyone was like, ‘Oh, you got Tiger Woods?’ And I was like, ‘No, Mr. Nicklaus.’ Of course, no kid in my class knew who the hell Jack Nicklaus was and Tiger was the best at that time. I’ll always remember that.
“And now I have a relationship with him. It almost doesn’t make sense, almost doesn’t seem real. First off, he doesn’t need to take time to sit down with me or answer a phone call. But he genuinely wants to and it’s really cool. I reached out to him a lot more my first couple of years on Tour, when I was searching a little bit more and trying to figure out my way around. And I have a lot better feel about what’s going on now because of a lot of talks we’ve had. It’s almost like he’s a father to you. When I see him, the first thing he always says is he’s happy for me. And like my grandpa, he always goes, ‘Hey, great playing in Hawaii,’ or wherever, and then he’ll go, ‘Boy, you tried to give it away, but you really got it done.’ He always keep me humble, which I like.”
Rory McIlroy, The best thinker
Four-time major champion
“I always remember the first time I met Jack was in the Gardens Mall parking lot (in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida). It was 2009, I had just been put out of the match play by Geoff Ogilvy, and my dad and I flew to Florida early for the Honda Classic the next week. And we were in the parking lot and a gold Lexus pulls up beside us, and Jack gets out of the car and I obviously I recognize him and I introduce myself. ‘Hello, Mr. Nicklaus,’ and my dad calls him Jack. And I’m thinking, dad, this is Mr. Nicklaus. Not Jack.
“Jack has meant so much to me. That week we had lunch at the Bear’s Club and he gave me some advice then. Over the years, I live at his golf course, I practice at the Bear’s Club, I’ve lived there for nine years, and I see him a lot. And I’ve met Barbara and his children, as well. They are such a nice family. I think more so than anything else, they’ve kept who Jack Nicklaus is and all the stuff he’s done on the golf course and they’ve kept this normalcy about them. It’s endearing. They take an interest in other people, they do so much for charity, they are the epitome of being a class act and how you want to be. Jack and Barbara are great role models for me and Erica (McIlroy’s wife) in what they do for the community and charity. They are such a wonderful family.
“He has been the best at giving advice on how to play golf. Not how to swing, but how to play the game. He’s talked to me about his strategy and how to play the golf course and how to play the game and what he thought. The common denominator for him and Tiger is they are the best thinkers in the game. Just to pick Jack’s brain about that, and about preparation, and how he got himself around a golf course, that’s the best advice you can get. He was a master at playing the game.”
Annika Sorenstam, ‘Just normal and cool’
10-time major champion
Jack and Barbara both mean a lot to our family. They have been so generous and supportive to us. They have become genuine friends rather than just professional acquaintances. You can just feel the love they share and they always make us feel so welcome. One fond memory was when they had us to their house and the kids swam with Mike while I played tennis with Jack and his friends. I love how active he stays and his quick wit. He’s just normal and cool.
Paul Azinger, A great sportsman
Won 1993 Memorial Tournament
“Jack’s impact on the game of golf will live forever. He set many records we wanted to achieve. He has shown us all how we should behave. He’s shown the world what sportsmanship looks like many times over. Happy birthday to the Golden Daddy.”
Curtis Strange: A legacy for the ages
Won the 1988 Memorial Tournament
“All of us who followed Jack, both amateurs and professionals, have been inspired and motivated by the golfer and the man. His legacy will last for generations to come. Happy B’Day, Jack.”
Matt Kuchar: The intimidation factor
Won the 2013 Memorial Tournament
“I was hugely intimidated by Jack in my younger days. Took me a while to get comfortable around him. Great memory is having won the tournament and watching the replay and watching my kids high-fiving Mr. and Mrs. Nicklaus. Something I’ll have forever. To look back and see my kids at such young ages jumping up and giving Jack and Barbara high-fives. But he was one that I was nervous around. I mean, to the point he was the greatest ever, and what can I say to this guy that he’s not already done, accomplished? If you caught a fish this big, felt like he caught bigger fish. I was nervous around him. Fortunately have spent enough time, and Barbara is so great, so easy to be around, that our relationship has become one that’s much more comfortable from my standpoint.”
Rickie Fowler, The start of a friendship
Five-time PGA Tour winner
“I had seen Jack and been around him a handful of times, but I think the real start to the friendship, roughly eight or nine years ago, was when Barbara reached out to me about playing The Jake, which they host every year for the foundation. So Barbara had called and left me a message and I know exactly where I was when I called her back. I was playing in the Match Play when we used to play it at Dove Mountain and I was on the putting green and Jack answered the phone. So I said hi. We chatted briefly but kind of kept it short. And that was our first real conversation. I was like, sorry, Jack, I need to speak with Barbara. It’s a funny way to tell him that Barbara is the boss. She runs the show. Jack would say he wouldn’t be where he is without her. It’s an amazing thing to have a relationship with both of them. It’s pretty special.
“To be able to sit down and have lunch and give each other a hard time, to talk to him as a friend, is pretty cool. We all watched the highlights of him playing his best golf. You pinch yourself every once in a while, knowing you can talk to him about all things golf and so many other things.”
Gary Player: The greatest gentleman
Nine-time major champion
“He’s my best friend in the game. We played together probably as much if not more than anybody and all around the world. We competed fiercely not only in America but Great Britain, in Australia, South Africa and Japan. Everyone talks about what a great player he was, we all concede that, but I’d have to say Jack Nicklaus is the greatest gentleman I’ve ever played against. The way he accepted defeat was absolutely incredible. His father taught him a lot while he was growing up, including that he had to be a gentleman in defeat too. And he was a very good father. He’d go to watch them compete the day ahead of a tournament. I cherish the times that I have spent with him. Barbara has been an absolute angel, supporting to the hilt. Our wives made our lives.”
Gary Player and Jack Nicklaus walk to the first tee during the first round of the 2019 Masters at Augusta National Golf Club. (Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Sports)
David Graham, A friend for life
Two-time major champion
“One of the unknown things about Nicklaus is how much travel around the world he did. I first met him at the Australian Open, which he won six times. I remember sitting on the end of his golf bag and watching him hit golf balls. I remember distinctly getting a phone call from him later that day asking me to get dinner with him and that was the start of a beautiful friendship.
“He had a set of clubs that were made for him by Slazenger that were a duplicate of his MacGregor set because he had an overseas contract with Slazenger. He wasn’t going to take them back to America. I asked if I could try them. He said, ‘Yeah, have them, please.’ Later on, Jack hired me as his chief designer at MacGregor. We co-designed the VIP irons, which I used in winning the 1979 PGA Championship and also created the Jack Nicklaus Limited Edition irons, which Jack won the 1980 U.S. Open and PGA with prototypes and I used to win the 1981 U.S. Open.
He was extremely instrumental in convincing me to play in America, and a big help to me once I moved here from my native Australia. As a matter of fact, he had a share in a golf course facility in Delray Beach, Florida, called The Hamlet, and he persuaded the owner of the facility to build (my wife) Maureen and me a house. I represented that particular club for a couple of years. We’d have dinner with Jack and Barbara at Lost Tree Village all the time. He and Barbara enrolled our children into school. That’s the type of friend he’s always been to me.”
Contributing: Steve DiMeglio, Adam Schupak, Beth Ann Nichols,
Kevin Kisner said he enjoyed the late-night TV. In fact, reactions to a U.S. Presidents Cup win around Tiburon were all positive on Sunday.
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NAPLES, Fla. – Kevin Kisner was one of the players rumored to be a possible captain’s pick for the U.S. Presidents Cup team. Instead, he spent the past week at the QBE Shootout at Tiburon Golf Club, where he partnered with Charley Hoffman to finish T-8 among the 12 teams in the field.
Kisner said he enjoyed watching the late-night Presidents Cup broadcast on TV. In fact, reactions to a U.S. win around Tiburon were all positive on Sunday.
“I stayed up and watched all of it and it was great,” Kisner said. “I couldn’t ask for it to go any better.”
“I watched all of it Saturday night and it was thrilling, a big win for players and especially Tiger,” Billy Horschel said. “But remember the Internationals lost one or two matches they should have won and that made a difference.”
Former European Ryder Cupper Graeme McDowell watched most of the singles matches.
“This week raised the health and sponsorship value of the Presidents Cup. The week was very interesting,” McDowell said. “It was fun watching and usually I watch like 10 shots in a day, and last night I watched probably 110 shots.”
“I went to sleep and watched the highlights this morning,” Bubba Watson said.
Greg Norman, who played for the Internationals in that side’s lone Presidents Cup victory back in 1998 (when the matches were also played at Royal Melbourne), didn’t watch, but wasn’t too surprised the Americans rallied in singles.
“I think it’s great what he’s done coming back,” Greg Norman said of Tiger Woods. “It’s not that easy when you go through surgeries.”
QBE Shootout founder and host Greg Norman is a World Golf Hall of Famer and held the No. 1 ranking for 331 weeks, bested only by Tiger Woods.
Norman, 64, and Woods are having a different kind of “competition” with a number of surgeries. Norman said he’s had 12 golf-related ones, and Woods has finally recaptured his game to quite the degree after another surgery, this one a spinal fusion in April 2017 for his fourth back surgery and ninth overall.
Woods came back to win the Masters this year, and won in Japan this fall to tie Sam Snead with 82 tour victories.
“I think it’s great what he’s done coming back,” Norman said. “You know, it’s not that easy when you go through surgeries to get back to where you were. He’s not — he’s swinging great, but he’s swinging within himself, which is much better to see.
“So therefore, he’s learned a lot about what the old swing did and what damage it did on his body because speed and power is going to break down somewhere sooner or later.”
Woods isn’t alone as far as surgeries for top players go. Brooks Koepka withdrew from the Presidents Cup due to a knee injury, and Dustin Johnson is just returning from knee surgery in Australia this week.
“Everybody only has so much in their joints to deliver and if you have that constant wear and tear on it,” Norman said. “I mean, you look at all the power players in the world, (Jack) Nicklaus has got a bad back, I’ve had a bad back, bad knees. I’ve had 13 surgeries because of golf. Actually, 12 because of golf.
“It’s because we put so much load on our body. You’re swinging the clubhead at 126, 127 miles an hour like I used to do with those old heavy pieces of equipment we used to play with, it tells us something’s going on in your body when you’re doing it thousands and thousands of time on a repetitive basis, no matter how fit and strong you are.”
While players are hitting it longer partly due to equipment, they’re also using a refining another technology — training — to allow them to generate that power.
“I think the technology with health and wellness with the players has really elevated,” Norman said. “I think they listen to their coaches, they listen to their trainers, they listen to their physiotherapists, so they build their own physical program around their own body, because that’s the right way to do it because your body’s your fingerprint.
“I wouldn’t work out like (Dustin Johnson) works out and I wouldn’t work out like (Justin Thomas) works out. I work out because I know what works for me. So everybody’s independent on that and I think the longevity’s there.”
Norman was part of the International team when it won its only Presidents Cup, back in 1998. That was at Royal Melbourne, where this week’s is being held. Prior to Thursday night’s matches, the Internationals had taken a 4-1 lead following Wednesday’s play.
“I think what (captain) Ernie (Els) did,” Norman said. “I think he had the decision of making it the four-ball instead of the foursomes first up was great. Probably a few lingering things with the American team, whether it’s jet lag or not knowing Royal Melbourne as well as some of the International players, would have messaged down to the guys who hadn’t played Royal Melbourne.
“They had been there probably over the weekend before so they would have got to know the golf course a little bit better. But it’s an information highway about that golf course. You need to know it and you need to know the little nuances of what it’s all about.”
Greg Norman spoke out on a rules infraction Patrick Reed committed in a waste area at last week’s Hero World Challenge.
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Greg Norman is willing to speak on behalf on all Australians when he says that Down Under, the general public does not look particularly kindly on people who “step across the line and take advantage of anything in sport.” The comment was made in reference to a rules infraction Patrick Reed committed in a waste area at last week’s Hero World Challenge.
Reed was ultimately handed a two-shot penalty for two practice strokes he made in the waste area that were deemed to have improved his line of play. A camera stationed directly behind him captured quite clearly the piles of sand that Reed removed with those strokes. When Norman saw that footage on the Hero telecast, alarm bells went off.
On a Wednesday episode of his SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio show, “Attack Life Radio,” Norman revealed that he was so taken aback by Reed’s actions in the waste area that upon seeing it that he immediately texted a rules official he knew was on site and told him to review the tape. Norman said on the show that the official told him he was the first person to notify Tour officials of the infraction.
“He said I was the first person to reach out to anybody about seeing what had happened,” Norman said. “Now, I can’t speak for the NBC commentators. I can’t speak for the production crew that’s in the van watching all these multiple screens and stuff like that. All I know was that I was told that I was the first one to notify the Tour officials of this infraction.”
The penalty Reed received as a result inflated his third-round 72 to a 74. He ended the tournament two shots behind winner Henrik Stenson despite closing with 66.
Norman noted that he wasn’t sure how Reed would be received by Australian crowds in the wake of that action. International team member Cameron Smith, one of three Australians on that team, said earlier in the week that though he’s always gotten along with Reed, he doesn’t “have any sympathy for anyone that cheats.” Norman called Smith’s comments “very forthright,” and perhaps a preview of what’s to come.
Preed has hit into a bunker on all 3 holes. Fans are loving it — and cheering for it — except for one sympathetic lady standing by me who said, “Poor bugger.”
Norman made it clear he would always defend the integrity of the game, regardless of how he feels about Reed personally. He has been a voice of praise for Reed and his “moxie” in the past, as he pointed out on the show.
“From my personal perspective, you know, I get really repulsed with that because, to me, you’ve got to protect the integrity of the game, not protect the player,” he said. “Over the years that I’ve been involved with the sport, for 40-plus years, I’ve seen a lot of things happen and, to me, I’ve always been at the forefront of protecting the game before anybody else. I don’t care what it is, whether it is an infraction of the rules, or signing a scorecard incorrectly, or taking an illegal drop, or whatever it is that I see, I will always, always stand on the forefront of protecting the game first.”
“Your oblique tore off, came back around, shredded,” Sean O’Hair was told. “It was an absolute mess. You had so much scar tissue.”
Sean O’Hair has been completely off the golf radar for almost all of 2019.
O’Hair, 37, struggled in 2017-18, finishing 108th on the money list. In the 2019 portion of the 2018-19 season he tied for ninth in the Desert Classic at La Quinta, so things were looking good.
Then everything went sideways. More accurately, directly to the muscles in O’Hair’s side.
“I actually didn’t think I was going to come back,” O’Hair said matter-of-factly Tuesday at Tiburón Golf Club, where he will play in the QBE Shootout this week for his first event in 10 months. “It was bad.”
O’Hair missed the cut in Phoenix in February, then withdrew from the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. And he hasn’t played in a tournament since then.
First, after an MRI, it was thought the pain in O’Hair’s left side was from broken ribs.
Then a doctor finally got to the bottom of it. O’Hair, a four-time PGA Tour winner, had completely torn his left oblique muscle, to the point he had to have surgery. The recovery included “dry needling” where needles over 2 inches are inserted to help break up scar tissue, of which O’Hair had a lot.
“It’s been a long, long road back,” O’Hair said.
After the broken ribs diagnosis, O’Hair took a month off and tried to return at the Valspar Championship near Tampa. That lasted nine holes. He saw another doctor, who made the correct diagnosis. After surgery, the doctor shared what he found.
“Your oblique tore off, came back around, shredded,” O’Hair was told. “I couldn’t tell the difference between your inner and outer oblique. It was an absolute mess. You had so much scar tissue.”
The doctor thought O’Hair had built up scar tissue over the years, and then the muscle finally gave out. O’Hair said he had been working extra hard in the gym and hitting balls, and maybe that had finally aggravated it to the point he felt something.
“I didn’t know about it,” he said. “I didn’t feel any tightness, I didn’t feel any pain, I didn’t feel any soreness. It just gave out.”
The simple recovery from that type of surgery — “He had to make the planes of muscles wide,” O’Hair said. “There was a lot of stitching and a lot of cutting.” — coupled with the dry needling and physical therapy itself took quite a toll.
“Just a lot of pain,” he said.
O’Hair did make a workout decision after coming back. He’s focused on stretching, yoga and Pilates.
“I think I’ve seen my last day of the gym for sure,” he said.
O’Hair has been hitting balls for two months, so he’s already apologizing to his teammate this week, LPGA Tour star Lexi Thompson, whom he’s known since she was a little girl pounding golf balls at TPC Eagle Trace in Coral Springs. O’Hair grew up playing against her older brother, Nicholas.
“I’ve got a great partner,” he said. “She’s going to be doing some heavy lifting this week.
“It’ s a fun event and I’ve had some good partners. With Lexi, it’s going to be really cool. It’s going to be fun to watch her play. I hope she doesn’t beat me too bad. but I’m telling you, she’s going to have to do some heavy lifting. but I think she’s going to be up for it.”
Bearded Shark?
Tournament host Greg Norman showed up at Tiburón Golf Club looking quite different Tuesday afternoon.
Norman had a beard.
“What?” Norman said chuckling when asked about his appearance. “I was in the mountains at my ranch. It was cold. It was snowing. I said ‘I’m just going to leave it.'”
Norman, 64, said he had a beard before when he visited Africa, but shaved it off on the way back.
“This is two weeks (without shaving),” he said.
Norman offered no predictions on how long it would last, or if he would maybe go with a goatee.
Rucker, Kelley back
Country music stars Darius Rucker and Charles Kelley, of Lady Antebellum, are playing in the pro-am again Wednesday and Thursday. But they’ll be sticking around for Live Fest on Saturday, the inaugural concert featuring the two acts, along with Jordan Davis and local outfit the Ben Allen Band.
Rucker and Kelley will be playing with pro Kevin Kisner on Wednesday and Kevin Chappell on Thursday.
ESPN’s Chris Berman also is returning again, and will play with Sean O’Hair on Wednesday and Viktor Hovland on Thursday.
Fox News Channel’s Bret Baier had to stay back in Washington, D.C., because of the impeachment coverage.
