Australian Senior Golfer

Norman back on the Champions Tour

AUSSIE golfing icon Greg Norman has confirmed as a starter in the 2012 Senior Players Championship at the Fox Chapel Golf Club in Pennsylvania in late June.

The event is the third of five Majors on the 2012 US Champions Tour schedule and will likely pit the Shark against old sparring partner Fred Couples, who is the defending champion.

In all around 78 top older golfers will take part in the event, including fellow World Golf Hall of Fame members Tom Kite, Hale Irwin and 2012 inductee Sandy Lyle.

“I’m looking forward to competing in the Constellation SENIOR PLAYERS Championship in late June,” Norman said this week. “This will undoubtedly be one of the more challenging fields of the year on a classic golf course at Fox Chapel. Combine that with the strong Pittsburgh fan base and the event is sure to be a huge success.”

Norman has had 11 previous starts on the Champions Tour, restricted to golfers 50 and over, with his best finish third at the 2005 Senior British Open Championship.

A win this year would see him join Jack Nicklaus, Raymond Floyd and Couples as the only players to win both THE PLAYERS Championship and the SENIOR PLAYERS.

Champions Tour in Texas

Meanwhile, the tour moves to Texas this week for the 2012 Insperity Championship at The Woodlands Country Club.

Once again Peter Senior will be the lone Aussie and will battle a quality field that includes Couples, Charles Schwab Cup points leader Michael Allen, Kenny Perry, Bernhard Langer, Corey Pavin and Tom Lehman.

Live Television Coverage

The 2012 Insperity Championship is actually scheduled to receive live television coverage on Fox Sports at some very accessible times:

1st Round, Saturday 8.30 – 10.30am; 2nd Round, Sunday 8.30 – 11.30am; Final Round, Monday 9 – 11.30am.

2012 Insperity Championship Leaderboard

GREG NORMAN will have one of his very rare starts on the US PGA Tour this week playing in the Californian event formerly known as the Bob Hope Classic.

Norman was recruited to the tournament – now refreshed and rebranded as the Humana Challenge – by long-time friend and golf tragic Bill Clinton.

The Humana Challenge has a 144 player professional field that in 2012 will include the likes of Phil Mickelson, Dustin Hoffman and Bill Haas but also blends a celebrity element.

Celebrities involved include Clinton, who will partner with Norman, musicians Smokey Robinson, Alice Cooper and Michael Bolton and actors Morgan Freeman, Don Cheadle and Craig T. Nelson.

Other Australians in the professional ranks include Stuart Appleby, John Senden, Gavin Coles, Steve Elkington, Mathew Goggin, Nick O’Hern, Rod Pampling and Greg Chalmers

Norman hasn’t played in a tour event in the States since the 2009 US Masters.

The 56 year old is obviously feeling pretty fit and is also committed to playing the PGA Tour’s Mayakoba Golf Classic in February and the Senior British Open in July.

“The good news is I feel good playing the game of golf again,” Norman said. “When you start turning and hitting the ball solid again – and long again – it makes me feel pretty good.”

The 2012 Human Challenge will be played at the La Quinta Country Club and has a US$5.6 million prize purse with US$1.008 million going to the winner.

The first three rounds of the four-day tournament will be played in a pro-am format, with each pro-am team consisting of one professional and one amateur and each group consisting of two professionals and two amateurs.

2012 Humana Challenge Australian TV Times

The event is being telecast live in Australian on Fox Sports.

Round 1, Friday 7 – 10am; Round 2, Saturday 7 – 10am; Round 3 Sunday 8 – 11am; Final Round Monday 8 – 11am.

2012 Human Challenge Live Leaderboard

2012 Humana Challenge Live Leaderboard

GREG NORMAN was wearing thongs and swatting at flies but he wasn’t in the Australian outback.

Norman was in the media centre at The Lakes Golf Club shortly after completing his final round of the 2011 Emirates Australian Open.

The thongs (flip-flops to some) were due to a blister on his foot and it just seemed to be one persistent fly that had taken an immense liking to The Great White Shark.

The fly survived numerous attempted death blows, the 56 year old demonstrated on the weekend he still has quite a swing on him, before finally succumbing to a concerted joint effort by Norman and media centre overlord Kathy Shearer.

Norman was hoping the flies would be just one more hurdle for the visiting US Presidents Cup team.

“They’ll get them. A few of [the Americans] have been getting them this week but I hope it is more,” the International Team captain said.

Royal Melbourne isn’t exactly the wilds of the bush either but to many Australia  is still a strange far away land where the cars have bonnets (They wear hats?) rather than hoods and it is really not a good idea to root for a lot of  people if you value your reputation.

Norman was predicting elements such as home ground advantage and crowd support would help get the Internationals over the line in a very close Presidents Cup this week.

“I am very confident the guys will play extremely well. It will be closer than what we think. It is not going to be 1998 when we won by easy points with a stroll on the last day. I think it will come down to a couple of matches,” he said.

The Shark was asked if he thought the Australian fans were worth and extra player and secondly if he wanted them to “go crazy”.

“I would like to think we have a lot more than an extra player. We have the home field advantage. Come the weekend, there will be more enthusiasm. People take time to build into a tournament. In match play they will get to know the non-Australians and get to understand it. They knew Ernie and Retief. They probably don’t know Charl very well. Ryo Ishikawa, they have to get to know him, Y.E., Kim…I’ve got to get to know Kim as well.”

He was hoping for the fans to show their enthusiasm but respect the game.

“I want the fans to be crazy but respectful. It is the game of golf. They have to be respectful to the game and their opponents. Be crazy between shots and give the rah-rah-rah. I love when Pat Rafter or Lleyton Hewitt play. The Fanatics are there. Do you guys know the Fanatics? They get up between each point and go rah-rah-rah, go Lleyton go Lleyton whatever. As soon as the tennis starts, they stop. That’s what I’d like to spectators to do, really pull for the guys, for the team.”

For Norman, this week could be the culmination of a long held dream.

“When Tim Finchem  (PGA Tour Commissioner) asked me in 2007 if I would be interested in being the captain, I initially said no. I said I would only be interested if I could captain in Australia.

“I did not expect to be the captain in 2009 but he said if I captained in 2009 he was pretty sure I’d be captain in Australia. I said I’d do it.

“My whole goal along the line was to be captain in Australia. It was important for me. I have supported Australian golf tremendously well for 35 years and I was on the winning team in 98 here. I wanted to bring the team down here to win it as the captain. It was a big mission statement of mine back in 2007 and here we are we start tomorrow.”

The only desire now is that he doesn’t have to do it wearing thongs.  Last time he spent his entire Presidents Cup Captaincy week with his shoulder in a sling.

“[The foot] is pretty bad. Hopefully I don’t have to wear flip-flops for the rest of the week,” he said.

One thing he won’t be doing is flip-flopping over decisions and asking for too much advice and consensus.

“I learnt a lot from San Francisco,” he said. “My captaincy will definitely be different this coming week. I am going to be more a captain instead of seeking advice and other people’s opinions and trying to make everybody happy. At the end of the day you’ve got to make the decisions. By making those firm decisions, the guys will realise that this is the captain speaking, this is what he wants us to do. We’ll go and do it and score the point.”

Norman has a number of young members on his team who once looked to him for their golfing inspiration. Now it is the other way around.

“I love watching what these guys have done. They’ve watched me play. Now I am watching them play. To see them do what they did at Augusta this year, it was the first time I sat on the edge of my seat ever watching the game of golf. On my phone I have a photograph of the four Aussies on the leader board. They slotted Tiger Woods in there just to mess it up. They had Tiger just above Geoff Ogilvy. I was ticked off. I wanted them to drop Tiger’s name down one. That’s how proud I was. I was watching TV in my house and taking pictures of the TV because four Australians had a chance to win the Masters. They have watched me and now I am watching them.”

IT is crunch time for players hoping to make it into the 2011 Presidents Cup teams with three Australian golfers in particular needing to pull a big performance out of the hat next week to improve their chances.

The 10 automatic selections for Greg Norman’s Internationals team and Fred Couples’ US team will be finalised on September 18 following the BMW Championship.

Norman and Couples will then have a week to mull over their two Captain’s choices. That week will include the 30 top ranked FedEx Cup players shooting it out in the Tour Championship in Atlanta.

The two team captains are scheduled to announce their final decisions after the Tour Championship on September 27.

Whatever happens in the next few weeks (barring injuries, touch wood) Australian is assured of two spots in the International team with Jason Day currently at No. 1 and Adam Scott at No. 2.

The top 10 is then rounded out (in order) with Charl Schwartzel (RSA), K.J. Choi (KOR), Kyung-tae Kim (KOR), Retief Goosen (RSA), Ernie Els (RSA), Ryo Ishikawa (JPN), Y.E. Yang (KOR),  and Louis Oosthuizen (RSA).

After that things get very interesting.  At No.11 is Royal Melbourne “local” Geoff Ogilvy, who might have done enough on Sunday when he snuck into the BMW Championship 70 man field in 69th position.

On much shakier ground are Aaron Baddeley in 14th spot and Robert Allenby 15th.

A very large obstacle in the way of Norman choosing two of these three Australians in his team is the resurgent form of Fiji’s Vijay Singh, currently ranked 12th. (Tim Clark is 13th and has already ruled himself out due to injury.)

Musing on his selection opportunities this week, Norman acknowledged that the big Fijian had been in every International Team since the inception of The Presidents Cup in 1994. Norman commented on Singh’s recent form and in particular his T3 finish at the Barclays.

A possible bolter also mentioned by Norman was Colombia’s Camilo Villegas, a rookie on the 2009 Presidents Cup Team, who “carded a wonderful 65 in the final round of The Barclays to finish T6”.

But unlike his opposing captain, Norman was clear that he hadn’t made any pre-emptive decisions.

“There is still enough time left for a lot of movement in that area of the standings, with players either playing their way in or playing their way out. You can bet over the next three weeks I’ll be keeping a close eye on those players ranked between 12 and 25, but I won’t make any decisions until the dust settles,” he wrote on Tuesday.

Couples has already famously declared Tiger Woods will be one of his two captain’s picks.

He has a host of alternatives for the second spot, including the likes of Brand Snedeker (currently 11th), Rickie Fowler (14th) and even Keegan Bradley (20th).

I’ve always thought he would go with Fowler, even though the colourful youngster probably hasn’t been scoring at his best just of late. Fowler was a big hit at the Ryder Cup last year and I’m sure his is the name the marketers whisper in Couple’s ear when he goes to bed at night. Or maybe they are now confusing things by whispering “Keegan Bradley” in the other ear.

The current US top 10 in order is Matt Kuchar, Steve Stricker, Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson, Nick Watney, Webb Simpson, Bubba Watson, Hunter Mahan, Jim Furyk and David Toms.

The 2011 Presidents Cup will be played at Royal Melbourne from November 15 – 20.

OTHER stocks might be up the creek at the moment but you’d certainly like to have shares in the Presidents Cup International Team after recent performances.

Team captain Greg Norman was watching the World Golf Championships Bridgestone International at the weekend with great interest and must have been impressed when the likes of Adam Scott, Jason Day and Ryo Ishikawa lit up the final round.

“What I am seeing on the leaderboard of the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational this week illustrates once again how the pendulum of golf continues to swing in a global direction,” Norman commented.

“Take for instance, the development that has taken place with Ryo since he blasted on the scene leading up to the 2009 Presidents Cup and the emergence of a “new star” in Jason Day, with his very impressive climb up the ladder of the world rankings, … to a veteran and “old boy” of this trio Adam Scott, who seems to have found his competitor level and skills that propelled him into the top five in the world at one stage.”

Norman is scheduled to meet with prospective team hopefuls at the US PGA Championship in Atlanta this week and will be confident of wresting Americans’ 6-1-1 stranglehold of the Presidents Cup from November 17 to 21 at Royal Melbourne, scene in 1998 of the Internationals only victory.

With South African Charl Schwartzel’s Masters triumph from Scott and Day, Rory McIlroy’s runaway US Open success and Darren Clarke’s emotional British Open win, Norman said the days of perceived US dominance of world golf were gone.

“I have been very open about my thoughts and opinions on the fact that the game of golf has truly gone global again, reminiscent of the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s,” Norman said. “With the domination of Northern Ireland, England, South Africa, Argentina and Europe over the past few years, and now, this week the other side of the world is stepping up to the plate and rightfully so.

“I love seeing where the game is right now with the quality and character of players. In the long run, the rest of the world elevating their game will serve as a stimulant for the Americans to elevate their games in an attempt to regain the domination they once had. Professional golf is the healthiest it has been in a long time and with that, it is in a great place.”

Day and Scott top the current standings

Automatic Presidents Cup selections on September 18

American and International players now have less than six weeks to gain one of the 10 automatic spots available for those with the highest rankings in each team.

That will happen after the BMW Championship on September 18 and the two captains picks for each team will be announced by Norman and US Captain Fred Couples on September 28.

Presidents Cup Team Standings (as of 9/11/11)

(First 10 players in each group automatic selections)

International Team

1. Jason Day, 2. Adam Scott, 3. Charl Schwartzel, 3. K J Choi, 5. Kyung-tae Kim (6th at Firestone), 6. Retief Goosen, 7. Ernie Els, 8. Louis Oosthuizen, 9. Tim Clark, 10 Y E Yang.

11. Ryo Ishikawa, 12. Geoff Ogilvy, 13. Robert Allenby, 14. Aaron Baddeley.

American Team

1. Steve Stricker, 2. Matt Kuchar, 3. Phil Mickelson, 4. Nick Watney, 5. Dustin Johnson, 6. Bubba Watson, 7. Hunter Mahan, 8. Bill Hass, 9. David Toms, 10. Jim Furyk.

11.  Rickie Fowler, 12. Bo Van Pelt, 13. Brandt Snedeker, 14. Zach Johnson. (24. Tiger Woods).

Typing those American names and reviewing the golfing talent contained therein, it is obvious the 2011 Presidents Cup is not going to be a cakewalk – even given the local advantage for the Australian players. It should be a fascinating contest.

Ishikawa a likely pick

As for the captain’s picks you would think Norman would go for Ishikawa (he looks like a much more serious golfer with that haircut) and probably Ogilvy as a sand belt specialist. Allenby and Baddeley will have to pull of some top wins or top placings in the next few weeks.

Couples has already basically said he will pick Woods if he is fit and will find it hard to go past Fowler, just for the outfits alone he will be good value.

Norman won't be teeing it up at Royal St George's

IT APPEARS Greg Norman will not make a showing at the 2011 British Open golf at Royal St George’s, scene of his magnificent 1993 victory.

The Shark had surgery on his left shoulder in February and though he hasn’t officially ruled an Open start out in the meantime, with less than two weeks to go there is little prospect the 56 year old will be attempting to recreate some of his past glory – including his two wins and his near miss at Royal Birkdale in 2008.

As a past winner Norman has an exception till he is 60 but isn’t listed among the 10 Australian golfers on the books for this year’s event.

In recent weeks Norman has been announced as a starter at the Australian Open in Sydney mid-November and at the Australian PGA Championship in Queensland the week after his Presidents Cup captain’s appearance but there has been no talk of him playing before that.

Writing on his website on June 22, The Shark talked about his shoulder, and the current form of possible Presidents Cup international team members, but his only reference to the Open was saying he would be writing his next update after the event.

“From a personal standpoint, my rehabilitation and recovery from the second surgery on my left shoulder in February continues to progress well,” he wrote on Shark.com.

“With a lot of hard work, I feel the condition of my shoulder continues to improve and I hope to start playing more golf in the near future.”

Norman has been at Wimbledon of late but veteran Fairfax golf writer Peter Stone reported in the SMH today that he had been unable to track him down in recent days to confirm his Open plans.

12 Aussies in 2011 British Open field

There are 12 Australian golfers currently listed on the championship website as starters.

These include Robert Allenby, Aaron Baddeley, Kurt Barnes, Jason Day, Richard Green, Nathan Green, Rick Kulacz, Matthew Millar, Geoff Ogilvy, Adam Scott, Brad Kennedy and amateur Bryden Macpherson.

The only chance other non-exempt Aussies have of gaining a coveted spot in the championship is by winning either this week’s John Deere Classic on the PGA Tour or the Scottish Open on the European Tour.

On current published starters that gives Michael Sim, Marc Leishman, Steven Bowditch, Jarrod Lyle, Aron Price, Matt Jones, Cameron Percy, Greg Chalmers, Rod Pampling a chance in the US and Andrew Dodt, Scott Strange, Matthew Zions, Daniel Gaunt, Scott Hend and amateur golfer Bryden Macpherson a chance in Scotland. Wade Ormsby needs a withdrawal for a start in Scotland – now that would be a nail-biting ride to the Open.

GREG NORMAN’S International team for the 2011 Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne has received a boost with news a scheduling conflict between the cup and the South African Open will likely be averted.

On current standings, Norman could lose the top half of his team if the five leading South Africans – Ernie Els, Retief Goosen, British Open champion Louis Oosthuizen, Charl Schwartzel and Tim Clark – were swayed by national loyalty to stay at home.

US PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem has met with his European counterpart George O’Grady to thrash out the conflict over those very important November 14 – 20 dates.

O”Grady said the European Tour would “do whatever we can” to sort the problem out and that he was hopeful of a resolution by the upcoming US Masters in early April.

The Presidents Cup will be held at Royal Melbourne Golf Club from November 14 – 20.

Norman, as captain of the International Team (the best of the rest of the world excluding Europe) will face off against US Captain Fred Couples and his team of leading American golfers.

It should be a cracker.

SOME humble Aussie black ants earned the ire of visiting American golfing icon Fred Couples at the Australian Open today but local rules officials refused his plea for protection.

Couples asked for relief when his stance inside a bunker on his second last hole was crawling with ants.

An Australian rules official refused his request for a drop from what was a very poor lie on the lip of the bunker.

The US Masters winner said words to the effect of: “You’re kidding me. You expect me to stand in that.”

Couples called over playing partner Stuart Appleby for a second opinion (pictured left), and after whatever conversation ensued there, eventually had to play the ball as it lay.

His other playing partner and opposing Presidents Cup captain, Greg Norman, was on the other side of the fairway having his own problems with one of the courses many waterways.

The problem seems to have been one of an ant misidentification. In the US and elsewhere the presence of fire ants, much nastier creatures than the little Australian black ants, does often warrant relief being given.

A Queensland rules official said her state also had some likely candidates, big bush bull ants, that might also warrant relief, but the little black ants were never going to be a threat.

With practice severely limited by two days of heavy rain, Couples had been struggling somewhat on a totally revamped Lakes course and perhaps was hoping for a bit of a break.

Still, he managed to finish on even par and will start the second round at 12.10 on Friday afternoon at least having a little more familiarity with the course.

Norman started with a bang, playing his front nine in two under but dropped five shots on the last five holes to finish with a two over 74.

The tournament leader is Matthew Griffin, who finished with a 7 under 65.

Queenslander John Senden birdied the final hole to finish outright second on 6 under with Alistair Presnell a stroke away third.

Peter Senior had an inspiring round finishing at 4 under, tied with eight others including Stuart Appleby and Geoff Ogilvy, who stormed home with an eagle-birdie finish.

Defending champion Adam Scott was displaying his usual superb ball striking but frustratingly was again let down by his short putting. If he can just get his putting confidence back there is no doubt he will again be in contention, despite finishing the day with a 3 over 75.

Big John Daly is also in contention after opening with a 69 that included six birdies and three bogeys.

2010 Australian Open Live Leaderboard

THE countdown to the 2011 Presidents Cup has begun with team leaders Greg Norman and Fred Couples hosting a Captain’s Day at the Royal Melbourne Golf Club on Monday.

International captain Norman and US captain Couples faced off at a media conference and displayed a passionate rivalry than is underlined by a personal friendship and respect.

Their personal rivalry spans the decades as individual players, as Presidents Cup representatives in 1998 and culminated last year when they opposed each other as team captains for the first time.

The 1998 match was played at Royal Melbourne and was the only time the Internationals have managed an outright victory in the nine stagings of the event.

After losing to the Americans at Harding Park in San Francisco last year, Norman believes the Melbourne venue will be the International team’s  best chance of repeating a victory, but he was wary of facing a US team burnt by a recent loss in the Ryder Cup.

“I think it’s a little bit more difficult for us going into 2011 now that America got their butts kicked in the Ryder Cup because they won’t want to go two losses,” Norman said.

“So I know Freddie doesn’t want to do that; the players definitely don’t want to do that for sure. If I was a player on the team, I wouldn’t want to say I lost the Ryder Cup and I lost The Presidents Cup.

The 2011 Presidents Cup will see 24 of the world’s best golfers lead by two of golf’s iconic characters.

Winning the cup means a lot to the captains and their teams and that fierce competitiveness was on display on Monday.

But there was also the friendship.

Asked by a television report about his recent third marriage, to Kirsten Kutner, Norman happily replied: “No dramas … very peaceful and quiet” and explained his new bride and her sister would be in Sydney for the Australian Open.

After a brief pause Couples was confident enough to quip: “How old is her sister? Is she married?”

The comment brought the house down and a laughing Norman replied: “We’ll talk about that later.”

Earlier, selected members of the media had been invited to play the famous Royal Melbourne championship composite course.

For some, it was the culmination of boyhood dreams and for all a great insight into the kinds of conditions some very famous feet will find in November next year.

Along with a reorganisation of the holes that make up the composite course from Royal Melbourne’s East and West Courses, the entire layout has new turf from tee to green after a lack of water and other issues.

Couples commented that whatever changes had been made, Royal Melbourne was still one of the world’s greatest golf courses.

“This is a world class course. It’s in the top three of my all time favorites with St. Andrews and Augusta,” he said.

On a personally  note, being given the opportunity to play the course was a rare treat, particularly alongside someone like Alan Evans, a member of Royal Melbourne for 25 years and a current member of the club’s governing council.

Alan, a 3 handicapper who is also a regular on the Australian Senior Amateur tour, has an intimate knowledge of the course and believes the venue as it will be presented next year will strongly favour the International team and not the Americans with their mostly high trajectory ball play.

Players bombing drives into the rough will often find it extremely difficult to get, particularly with any real control, and when they do there will be no soft landing spots on the lightening fast greens.

When a strong wind got up mid-morning the bite this course can offer the combatants of next November was more than evident.

Full Media Conference Transcript