The Great White Shark: Greg Norman’s Unbelievable Golf Journey | Undeniable with Dan Patrick

Dive into the captivating story of Greg Norman’s iconic comeback, as the legendary golfer opens up about his storied career and explains why his journey is unlike any other. From an avid surfer to a golfing prodigy, Norman’s path to greatness was paved with sheer determination and resilience. In this exclusive video, “The Great White Shark” himself takes us behind the scenes of his most triumphant moments and his near brushes with defeat. Witness the grit and grace of a true sports icon as he reveals the secrets to his success and the life lessons learned from the green.

CHAPTERS:
0:00 – Introduction to Greg Norman
2:20 – Early Life and Family Background
5:32 – Father-Son Relationship Dynamics
9:21 – Academic Interests and School Attitude
10:18 – Golf Career Ambitions and Milestones
12:09 – PGA Tour Breakthrough and Achievements
16:08 – First Professional Victory Insights
18:13 – Golfing with Legend Jack Nicklaus
23:55 – 1986 Masters Tournament Highlights
29:18 – US Open 1986: Performance Review
30:56 – British Open 1986: Championship Recap
33:53 – Emotional Impact of First Major Win
35:48 – Leading the 1986 PGA Championship
38:58 – Norman’s Second Major Triumph Analysis
41:40 – 1993 British Open: Second Victory Reflections
48:51 – Assessing Greg Norman’s Golf Peak
50:02 – 1996 Masters: Setbacks and Lessons
52:25 – Learning from Professional Failures
53:40 – Retirement and Life Beyond Golf
56:48 – Conclusion and Farewell

#Golf #Golfer #LivGolf #gregnorman

For many athletes the journey to Greatness can often follow a similar path but perhaps no one was more committed to doing it his way then tonight’s guest since deciding to play golf at age 15 Gregory John Norman has always been in contention finishing with 91 victories two open championships and

331 weeks spent as the number one golfer in the world but before he was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame did you know he was an Avid surfer in his teens took up golf after catting for his mom and once dreamed of joining the Air Force tonight we’ll learn what makes

This undeniable icon who he is a man who once said you expect success you respect failure please welcome the great white shark Greg Norman you thank you buddy thankk you thank you feel like I’ve seen a lot of you lately oh gosh I mean a a whole lot of

You lately without the clothes on yes yeah well who saw the ESPN body issue yeah there you [Applause] go how did that come about well I have a ranch in Colorado and um my wife and I go trail riding all the time in the wilderness country and we’ll be in the

Horses for three four days five days at a time and uh so one time I jumped got naked got into the one of the Lakes up around 11,000 ft freezing cold too mind you guys be careful when you do that but anyway um she took a photograph of me

And she thought it was pretty cool and she said hey you look so hot why don’t you just put this on Instagram and I went are you sure you want me to go on Instagram and that was one of the triggers that got everything going you

Were born in be Outback and then you moov close to the Great Barrier Reef so give us a sense of how different that is from the Outback to the Great Barrier Reef and how that kind of formed your childhood um well I was born in a little mining

Town called Mount ISO in Far Western part of Queensland and my father moved to a place called Townsville on the East Coast on the great bury reef and I was three months old so I didn’t remember the Outback that much um and I grew up on the Great Barrier Reef and that’s

Where really I started to Blossom as a child an independent child I would say that because I would come home and I’d ride my horse be back on the beach um I’d go surfing when the surf was up I would would go uh free diving as a kid

With pulling a surfboard as my when I killed fish I would put them on the back on the surfboard and I would tow that around with a rope around my waist and that’s how I grew up um this is this idilic life that you have you’re Outdoors all the time uh surfing fishing

And you seem Fearless as a kid yeah I pushed the envelope a little bit too I mean i’ for me to be actually sitting here uh for some of the things that I’ve done as a kid growing up um you know been very either blessed or lucky um but I always pushed always

Pushed the envelope to see how far I could take myself I mean I’d do cave diving with just a regular tank and drop in at 200 feet and take my tank off and go through a cave to see what’s on the other side and stupid stuff right absolutely stupid stuff now now looking

Back it was it was I’m a little mellow nowaday I must admit but you had at least one near-death experience where you were swimming and where you jumped in and it kept you down for oh that was in my surfing days yeah yeah yeah my surfing days before that was preg golf

And um there was a cyclone coming in up of of um up Way North and was pushing this magnificent swell down this point called at Nua heads so I take my surfboard and I walk out the very end of the point and it’s about a mile walk a

Mile and a half walk and there’s no beach the beach is mile back that way so once you’re in you’re in right and the rest are just big giant Boulders and um I picked the wrong wave to ride and I got wiped out and um my those days we

Didn’t have tethers so the My Board disappears and now I’m stuck out there and by the time I got to the beach I was exhausted I was taken down uh to the bottom which normally happens when you get thrown by a big wave and it was just

Tumbling me down tumbling me down and I actually got to the beach and I said you know how I ever made it out of that too and I was exhausted and I I was pretty fit guy and I I was done surfing for a while how did that change you um make

You more aware um pick your pick your fights with the right wave I guess um I picked the wrong wave at the wrong time and I was the only guy on that wave and so everybody else was not paying attention and once you’re down you’re down you’re you’re a doggy you’re in a

Washing machine you’re in a washing machine being thrown around and nobody really you know they’re off surfing their own ways right so if you’re off you’re off so you had to fight for yourself uh I talked to your lovely mom 20y and I said what kind of relationship

Did Greg have with his dad and she said you’ll have to ask him why would she say that because it was strained um like I said my father had his own business um so when I said to my father one day that uh first of all I want to join the Air

Force and be a fighter pilot and Turn and Burn and shoot down bad guys um he couldn’t grasp hold of that when I went in the recruitment office and I decided not to join the Air Force I didn’t sign the on the piece of paper it was that

Close it was that close uh he was kind of pissed off with me um because he wanted me to go somewhere and he said well what are you going to do and I said I think I’ll play golf and he would look at me like I was an idiot right because

At that time I was like a nobody golfer I was still an AM golfer but that was my passion I saw something I felt something I didn’t know what it was um so I walked out of the recruitment office offers and I chased my dream of being a golfer and

At that stage I was probably about a 27 handicapper something like that and you know my dad was pissed like I said he was like you’re crazy you’re not you’re walking away from a job you’re walking away from a career blah blah blah blah BL did he think you were a slacker I

Don’t like you weren’t taken life seriously probably a slacker like yeah like that yes he probably thought that um I wasn’t didn’t have my senses about me and um I had no guidance I was making the wrong decisions on for the wrong reasons but your mom plays golf and you

Caddy for your mom your mom’s a pretty good golfer yes she was at that time she was like a three or four handicap at that time but you don’t have anything else to do you’re 15 and you go caddy for Mom that’s right the first time I

CAD for her and the first time I actually was on a full 18 hole golf course she had finished in the last four holes like out back out and back right so well she was in there having a cup of tea with her friends I took her golf

Clubs and I was playing down with these tiny little clubs and and I got the bug Bit Me my first score was 108 and like I said my handicap was 27 and in 18 months I was scratch and your mother was supportive of you making golf a career

Very much so yeah yeah she knew that I was extremely passionate about it because um there was nothing was going to stop me with golf once I got down to scratch I knew I was beating other players on such a regular basis she knew knew that nothing was going to stop me

So she gave me full Rain full support and just said go go chase your dreams and U and and for those who play golf to go from 27 to scratch in 18 months is amazing but there there had to be something that just clicked where you

You got it I think it had a lot to do quite honestly dam was my surfing ability when you stand on the surfboard you plant your feet on the ground you you’re not tight but you’re firm right but everything your whole body makes these tiny little adjustments as that

Wave board bounces around the wave you pick up speed you cut in you drop in and um is no different than the game of golf when we get on uneven ground right and your toes might be a little lower than your heels or your heel might be a

Little lower than your toes or left foot down and right foot up as you make that goal swing there’s tiny little motions of your body’s making that adjustment the tiny little proception moves that you can actually make a little adjustment here or there and we consistently hit the center of the golf

Club no matter what the situation and even on a windy day and how you can keep yourself balanced so there was a lot of similarities to surfing to golf and that’s why I think I actually picked up the game a go fairly quickly because my

Body was very aware of where it was in space at any given time did you care about school oh no no not no I tell you what happened with the school was uh my father used to give me the business U because my study was

Two books J by Jack Nicholas golf my way and 55 ways to play the game of golf instead of reading chemistry and physics and doing my math I was reading how to play the game of golf so um I got through school but I didn’t get through

School the way I wanted should have gotten through school my father was a brilliant man he had his own engineering business and he really wanted me to follow suit but that was never going to take place in my world because I was like you mentioned I was an outdoor guy

I want to push myself to the Limit there was nothing I was going to deny me the capability of learning something new I got my motto today called attack life and um I really pursued that since I was a niido grasshopper when did you set your goals in the golf

World oh when I got a 27 handicap I wanted to be I wanted to break 100 then I wanted to break 90 then I wanted to break 80 then I want to break 70 and then I want to break 60 you know all that stuff you just these goals get

Pushing pushing pushing and I I was um I said goals on a daily basis I wake up in the morning even to this day I wake up in the morning and I stare myself in the in the mirror and I say what’s what’s going to happen ahead what’s ahead of

You today wait you’re having an actual conversation in the mirror absolutely absolutely I do to to this day what’s your wife say when she hears these conversations I don’t do it in front of other people but for sure I do absolutely and when I play golf I had a

Little man inside me I I always talk to him I said hey little man where are you what the are you doing you know I like pull him out pull him out hey little man you asleep hey little man but what do you from little man well

Anything you anything you want if you get really excited or you get really aggravated you say hey little man calm yourself down or hey little man pick yourself up you you’re you’re flat today you know why are you flat today so you have all these conversations going today

And I still doing it today and I think it’s um I think it’s probably been one of my personal great personal assets to have inside that I I am so honest with myself and I’m and if I do something wrong I’m actually stripping myself down like the

ESPN body issue and I want to completely understand what I did wrong and what can I do to to improve on my mistakes because when I play golf Dan it was it wasn’t my good shots that I practiced all the time it was my bad shots my

Weakness that I want to make a strength uh you get ready to join the PGA but explain what the PGA was back when you’re joining it because I think people think it’s the PGA Tour but you had to go through an awful lot to become a professional golfer yes I did actually

In my day you couldn’t just say I’m going to be a tournament player in my day you had to go through the training professional golfers of Association in other words I was an assistant Pro apprentice apprentice yeah I was an assistant Pro in a pro shop for three

Years the course was and you had to learn retail which was a big asset for me today because in my clothing business and the beef business and all that stuff that we’re in um so we had to learn that I was bored to death right so I hated it

But um I had to go through the process so I asked the Australian um PGA if I could could accelerate my three-year course and do it in first year and lo and behold they said yes I said because I don’t want to be in a club professional I want to be a tournament

Golfer so anyway I did my three-year course um and in one year passed all my exams and obviously I passed my playing test um and that allowed me to get out there in 1976 to get out there and play tournament golf did you hustle club

Members at any point I did you did oh I was making 28 bucks a week right that was my Sal my first salary was 28 and this is where I came up with the 30 3030 rule 10 I had let’s just round it off right

So I 30% for your taxes 30% for expenses 30% for savings and 10% for your slush fund right so you reward yourself I didn’t have a whole lot of money 10% of 28 bucks is $280 right so I didn’t have a whole lot to reward myself with but

But I still apply that today but anyway yes I did take on the members Big Time um there was about six of us would go out there and play and I remember one time I was down $800 coming to the 17th te and I didn’t

Have $800 to my name and uh I was playing with this gentleman called sirel King and S looked at me and the 17th hole was a power five I was the only one who could reach it in two and 18 was a really difficult par for I turned

Several turn to me and he says you want a double and I go oh my God double double double so could lose, 1600 bucks or you know you can end up walking away making 800 and uh I went okay and I finished Eagle birdie and I won money

And I took that money and I put it in the bank and you know just pocket away that’s that little 10% slush fund and uh and that taught me a a big lesson about being a strong believer in your own beliefs on how to close out a match or

Don’t be afraid to take on a bet or you know if you truly think you can execute go ahead and execute so that was a big learning point too the impact that Charlie her had on your life was what probably two things the main thing is no

Matter where you go in the world you carry your country’s flag on your back so always know you’re representing millions of people who are following you wherever you go that was powerful and the next one was probably DIN and dip do it now and do it proper so if you’re

Going to task yourself to do something do it now and do it proper so how do you do that you study you understand your strength your weaknesses how am I going to get to from point A to point B to get it done immediately and I

Think that little acronym was the key to me being able to compartmentalize my life as easily as what I’ve been able to do uh your first win West Lakes 1976 1976 yes um because I was a bum I could hit the golf balll a long a long way in

Those days and uh 270 280 in those days was massive hit and all these dog legs were so short I could drive it over the corners of everything and because I was such a straight driver of the golf ball um I just drove the ball everywhere I

Could drive and I was driving on front of the greens beside greens and and I after three rounds I had a 10 shot lead and everybody’s like who is this blond guy who’s you know taking the golf course to pieces and and I beat a pretty strong field of American players and

Some of our top Australian players at the time and uh so I went on and one easily who are you on the golf course the same guy that drops in on a triple overhead and thinks he can take it on you know I thought I could hit this

Drive I thought I could put that shot in there I thought I could do it you cocky I wasn’t cocky I was just confident yeah you know there wasn’t there wasn’t a golf shot that I didn’t practice on the driving range visualizing I mean sometimes I’d go out and play golf and I

Was an assistant Pro on my own and I wouldn’t play 10 through to 18 I’d play had I get from the 10th t to the 14th green and play that hole and just navigate yourself okay the trees over here there’s bunkers over there how am I

Going to do this wait would you play the 10th T to get to the 14th green yeah yeah I would never play 101 12 13 14 I’d go from 10 to 14 using other Fairways and navigating getting getting around and that taught me how to flight the

Ball picture where you’re going to hit it and stuff like that and there was a tree on the driving range that I used to actually practice trimming the end of the branch back with my five with my golf ball I’d actually five iron seven iron eight iron three iron and it was

Always the same height so I was learning to flight each iron a certain height all the time you get paired with Jack Nicholas at the Australian Open what was that moment like I my pants sorry I was like I just won the tournament the week before and um and I

You like I said I grew up reading Jack’s books right so he was my idol so I’m coming up the from the practice tea on Tuesday afternoon and Jack’s walking down and it’s the first time I met the guy and we’re on a slope like this so

I’m coming up and Jack Jack is like way up here right and I am looking up at this guy like goooo and I’m taller than Jack but I’m looking up think oh my God this is Jack di this is Jack and he put his hand on my shoulder and he said hey

I’m looking forward to playing I heard you one last week congratulations and I’m looking forward to playing with you on Thursday I said me too Jack I was so nervous anyway I walk on the first te on Thursday and tee my ball up whoever’s being in front of a

Celebrity or and you’re trying and te it up and try to get that bullet and I finally get it to rest on the tea and I cold topped my t- shot cold topped I didn’t hit it 30 ODS off the tea it actually hit a bush from here to the end of the

Stage and I looked and you know felt like all the blood just drained out of my head and out of my body and I was so embarrassed and and there was Jack I shot 80 that day A nice comfortable Snowman Jack Jack shot I think 70 71 68

Something like that and uh anyway it was it was it was a great honor to play with I shot 72 the next day and I think I beat him the next day and uh we sat in the locker room at the end of Friday afternoon and uh he put his hand on my

Right knee and he said Greg you know what he said I think you’ve got some real good talent you should think about going to America what did he see in you I don’t know actually I never asked him that question that’s pretty amazing that here’s the Golden Bear the greatest

Golfer has taken you under his wing and you’re 21 and you haven’t accomplished anything yet no I’ve played three golf tournaments in my whole life yeah U but he gave me that confidence you know he said hey you do really well in America so I listened to him but I didn’t want

To go immediately to America cuz you’re jumping in the Lions Nest then right because these are the best of the best in my day growing up um you knew you’re going to go over there and play the Watson and The Floyds and the Palmer and the necklaces and so I decided to put

Myself on a five-year building process and learn about culture learn about language learn about different from Foods learn about surviving on your own by traveling the world so I mapped out as again I did it myself I mapped out where I wanted to go I wanted to go

To Japan Asia learn those first and there were God awful golf courses to play on so you had to really change your golfing style a little bit from kakuya grass to Bermuda grass to you know different services so I that taught me a lot about my ball striking ability and

Then I want to go to to play in Europe and um wanted to play in Ireland I wanted to play in Scotland’s Lynx golf stuff like that and so I did that for four and a half years and I knew because of my success rate of winning was just

Getting a little bit higher a little bit higher when I decided to go to America in 1981 I was ready to go to America in 1981 and and boom there we go again this is what it looked like Greg’s first win and now Norman trying to finish up his

Par and route to his first PGA Championship good shot wins theer for 1984 congratul how’ that feel obviously it felt great because I expected myself to do well over here because like I said I honed my my skills to get into a place where I wanted to be and I wanted to

Play in America you win your first uh now what are your goals I just keep winning you know obviously the next one is the next one is to win a major championship um and I I guess from my stubborn side I I probably try to do everything

Myself um why didn’t you reach out for help I don’t know why I didn’t I don’t know I just was such a determined person myself I figured I would do it myself with anybody else’s help and maybe it had a little bit to do with my dad too

Where he wasn’t there when I needed him you know where you could he could take you to the golf course and he could teach you about attitude and life’s principles no matter it doesn’t matter whether you’re in sport or in business business or in life in general we all have value Val same

Principles apply and when you’re you know I was a I was on my own basically and so I had to make those decisions myself and I had to I failed on some of the decisions and failure is to me is the great um you know teacher of success in the future so

Uh the more I failed the more I learned the more I became successful so you finished runner up the US Open 84 you’re number one in the world but you haven’t won a major so how are you processing that going into Augusta that year I never really was one to listen to the

Media quite honestly as much as everybody you know you pick up a paper and pick up magazines and everybody wants to talk about you know you’re the the the best player in the world not to win a major I was determined to do it but I didn’t put a timeline on myself so

I I just thought one day it was going to happen for sure so 86 you’re leading after three rounds you go into the final round you have a chance to tie Jack Nicholas or beat Jack Nicholas depending on what happens on 18 and this is how it played

Out well Destiny will take its stand right now A bear and a shark tied are we safe well long as the bear doesn’t go in the water look out right ins side look out right Gallery Greg Norman is far right over behind the bunker five birdies all day this for par however Jack

Nicholas has just won his sixth Masters could have played for the tie M force a playoff I was well I I was actually trying to hit the shot I mean I was playing great all day that day um especially the back nine you were unbelievable yeah back nine I was really

On fire and so every shot I could see and I could feel and it was a interesting yardage there if my memory is right it was 187 yards U uphill and there was not a whole lot of Breeze blowing at that time the flag was cut

Fairly back Rish as we saw um and I just wanted to get at the flag um and all day long I’d been hitting pretty much full shots you know within 90% of my capability and this one here I decided just carve in a for IR you know aim left

And just carve it in instead of just taking a hard five out and just going straight at it and um I could actually see in the Gulf swing what I did wrong U because my lower body my right hip didn’t fire up the hill as fast as I

Should have fired stayed open it stayed it stayed back yeah gravity was my enemy in that situation and um so I didn’t get my right hip up covering the ball fast enough and so I stayed back the club got stuck and fled that went right going right but I think

Everybody remembers that Jack winning in 86 at age 46 and I don’t know many people that remember that you had this chance so I think Jack’s win was so big it overshadowed you know what happened on the 18th a little bit oh for sure it did

But I I I’ll never forget that back nine played I was playing with Nick price at the time and I was uh we walked up to 14th green and there was probably 20 people and that was it on the back of the 14th green because everybody was following Jack because

Jack was shooting 29 to go you know do what he did so everybody’s looking as him and there was nobody watching Nick and I absolutely nobody so I said to Nick let’s show these people we we can still got a chance to win this thing so

Um I get off on my T 14 and as we were walking down 15 Jack was putting on 17 and I am actually looking at him as he raises the putter up like this and I feel like Go but it was like the perfect eyeline for me and then I had to play 15 16 and then 17 so uh did you talk to Jack at all about that oh yeah absolutely look I’ve had a great relationship with Jack Nicholas um you know very profound

Relationship to tell you the truth there because there’ been moments in time when for example I hadn’t won a golf tournament for a while so I called Jack up and I said hey Jack can I come over and talk to you and he taught me at that

Moment in time that don’t try and take everything on board take one or two pieces of really intelligent nuggets and bring them into your world and figure out how you can you know patch out what’s going on or get your synapses rewired again so I left his house went

Home and I said to myself he my conversation with my little man right so okay little man what are you going to do today okay how’s that how are we hitting the goal I went through this list of checklist of what I was going to do and

Then um I said we are going to do this we’re going to change our attitude we’re going to start fresher look we’re going to change our practice routine we’re going to change up this there’s nothing wrong with your game there’s everything wrong with your attitude and your head

And boom I went down to practice old Marsh I hit the ball so good I got on a plane and I went up to play the Canadian open I won the next week so it was just a couple of the key things that Jacka told me just to think about it yourself

Analyze it yourself understand how do you smooth those Peaks and just you never going to smooth them out 100% and just get them where you can just roll from one to the other so 86 you go to the US Open that’s a chinik you’re leading after three rounds yes what are

You thinking going into the final round what have you taken away from some of these prior experiences oh I felt really good about it um because shinok is another one of my top five courses in the world um just absolutely loved it had a very interesting um buildup during

That week because um it was um interesting with the crowd reaction what are they saying uh just saying you go home you’re Ean AI um you can’t play golf you’re a choker you’re this that so you know it’s very hard because they they get you between walking from the

Green to the tea when you’re like got six foot of space and they yelling just yelling in your hear it so it was it was hard to focus on it and then I kind of lost my cool uh on one of the holes on Sunday and I should never have done it

And I went up into the gallery and I just knew who it was there was this Sea of Faces and I just swung to the right walked right up to this guy and I said look if you want to say something to me

Said to me in the car par at the end of the round when I can do something about it and here you’re trying to win the US Open trying to win the US Open and you know I I I broke the code of you know sporting code of golf I should never

Done it but it was just I just had enough right I didn’t win it Raymond Floyd won it but it was just an education for me to tune yourself out or block things out a little bit better did the guy meet you in the parking lot hell no okay no no

1986 you’re leading the British Open after three rounds you have conversation with Jack Nicholas that Saturday night Saturday night yes I was um you seek him out or he came up to me he said Greg when you wake up in the morning just think about your grip

Pressure I got my grip pressure thinking about maybe my swing at the top of my impact or my how my rotation my body is he said your grip pressure I thought oh God okay let’s think about that so in the morning when I woke up I had

My clubs in my room with me um drying out and I was just I’d pick up the golf club and I’d go okay feels pretty good okay and then as I started swinging I felt like I was hanging a little bit too hard with my

Left hand right here and then all of a sudden I remember what Jack said and I started loosen my forearm my forearm relaxed then my Bas of my neck and my traps relaxed and all that stuff and all of a sudden now I’m started swinging oh

This ball is going out there and the wind is not even affecting it so and from that moment onwards um is the saying that I said to myself on every time I got under pressure make love to your fingers make love to your fingers

You if how many times we drive in a car we get so frustrated road rage we our fingers get so tied around the steering wheel if I’m driving a car now and I get fr frustrated I make love with my fingers I just do just caress your

Fingertips like that and all of a sudden I don’t know if I need that image right now I just let me let me compartmentalize and get that out of my head here so after the conversation with Jack Nicholas loose in the grip and this is how it

Played out for Greg Norman now the man of the moment Greg Norman well he’s had his share of disappointments over the last few seasons but this looks like being it come on now a good grand stand finish who’s hit a thin one to the right it’ll just catch the green almost down

Where Gordon brand was and off they go there he is is a bit of the stay these [Applause] three now moments to save her the final one hopefully for Greg Norman yes well done he’s done it at last Greg Norman 69 and great stuff the champion for 1986 how about that I still have all those sweaters that I War Friday sat Sund I kept them actually excited relieved how would you describe that feeling you finally won I was um relieved to get through the gallery I can tell you that it was it was crazy then because everybody’s

Smashing on the back and congratulating you obviously and and people’s exuberance you you could feel it um so once I once it all happened Jack was the first guy to come down and congratulate he came out of the TV Tower and uh well I had even sign my scorecard he

Reached down and congratulated me by the stairs and uh so yeah definitely relieved there’s no question about it um you you you practice for those moments you just hope those moments come you hope they continue to come uh but then you realize that there’s I looked at the

Scoreboard and then just to remember who was on the board and it was like the who who were right behind me knocking on the door the fos The alz you know I know Gordon Bram was up there but the woim of the world I mean it was just you know

They all want to win them too and if you can come out ahead of them a few more times than they can of you that’s what it’s all about when’ your dad say oh my dad was proud of me for sure you know um you know obviously the TV

Cameras in Australia go over to their house in the morning because it’s the we hours of the morning and uh you that was you you could tell he was proud you could tell at that time that he realized my decision 12 13 years earlier to chase

That road to get there was really the right decision uh to hear him on the phone when I could get onto a land line to pick it up and talk to him you know he was choked up 1986 PGA leading after three rounds again yes you’re bringing up some really

Good stuff here well okay but this brings me me to a point that I think is lost on people you had a chance for the career you had a chance for the Grand Slam that year you were playing well enough you could have won all four

Majors but I think the focus is always on what you didn’t do and I think that’s the unfortunate part of this that we do in in our society we focus on a bottom line did you win or did you lose you got to be in contention to lose obviously

You got to be in contention to win but I think that’s been lost on people especially when it comes to you that’s one of the greatest years in golf mhm and people don’t look at it that way well that year I won I believe 11 gol tournaments well you’re clearly the best

Golfer in the world yeah at that time I was yeah for sure yeah you win the open and now you come to the PGA so what are you thinking after three rounds in you’re leading the PGA Oh I thought I was goingon to it’s just there wasn’t

Anything going to stop me at the PGA Championship because I loved iness I mean I loved that golf course it was just had my sty of golf written all over cuz I was a great driver at the golf ball I didn’t have any fear on any t-shot there and and obviously I was

Playing well to have the lead and um I didn’t think anybody was going to beat me going into Sunday you know even as Bob TW took that Golf Club back here’s out looked Bob’s way out of the bunker it’s in the unbelievable and unless great Mormon

Can chip in from the difficult rough for his free it’s all over obviously Bob’s a good bunker player and he proved it right there this for the tie it’s all over Bob TW has won the PGA Championship at age 27 after trailing by nine shots

With 36 holes to play so he takes that club back and then you see that ball rolling when it came out I thought okay this Ball’s a little hot right didn’t have any spin because he was hitting it on the down SL was this Wall’s coming

Out a little hot so you know even if it Li it even it hit the edge of the hole it was going to lip out five or six maybe 10 feet you know I when it went in I completely had to change my game plan

On my Chip Shot um because I had a very I had a beautiful eye it was an uphill chip it wasn’t going to be a very difficult chip you know I had had uh I figured I had two maybe three to get down because if even if he made five I

Still had an extra shot up my le sleeve but um anyway look that that’s the thing that teaches you that you got no control over anybody else you only have control of yourself um I hit it where I maybe six feet to the left of where I wanted

To be on the green um I was underneath the hole had everything figured out when he was in the bunker is shortsighted himself I thought here it is no problem I’m going to I’m going to win this uh but but you do you regroup yourself and you get yourself together and you go

From there compartment aliz compartmentalized yeah over the next 3 years you have 19 wins you’re a main stay at top the money list you’re number one in the world for an incredible 130 of the next 132 weeks that’s right in the in the mid 80s to the mid 90s for

That 10year period we probably had a dozen guys all vying for the best player in the world number one the world no matter where we went in the world and no matter what golf tour we played in outside the majors there was probably four to six to eight of us in those

Events so every time we went somewhere we were competing against six to eight of the top 10 players in the world the top 12 players so every time we play we had to pull our socks up and we had to play golf you couldn’t go in

There and just okay I’m here I’m going to get my appearance money I’m going to disappear you actually worked each and every go tournament you played and we pushed each other we really really pushed each other how important is the second major to you it was it was important

Yeah because I’d come close a couple times then I went through that little downward spiral spell and um so you know winning one is great winning two is wonderful winning three and more you want to build build on us and then in 1991 you hit a wall you’ve hired Butch

Harmon hired a new nutritionist like this is like Greg Norman 2.0 like you all of a sudden it’s a different different person different player different player and um that’s when I started getting into a fitness routine and started listening to what my body was telling me and understanding what my

Body really wanted took me a while uh so I B on a full-time trainer uh gentleman called Pete rovic and uh we worked extremely hard together and Pete didn’t know golf which I wanted right I wanted to teach Pete what I wanted my body to

Do um and then buch Harman came on board I was struggling a little bit and uh changed my coach Changed My Philosophy with that and boom there it is and how would you describe that feeling that you’re back you’re back to being the best player in the world I I wasn’t

Really playing to be the best player in the world I would just I was played to be the best I could be big difference um I knew if I performed well on every in all aspects of my life on and off the golf course I was always going to be the

Best I could be I never wanted to be number one it just happened um so when I went into 93 um that was a that was an interesting year because I didn’t like the golf course at all it was typical me I mean I go went to play golf courses

That I love to play um Ross and George just never suited my eye U because you couldn’t see where you were going if anybody played there it’s actually it’s a it’s a classic Lynx Golf Course U but it never really suited my eye so when I got there I didn’t have a whole

Lot of high hopes and when Sunday came along remember I made that comment about the steering wheel and making love to your fingers I was driving a Rolls-Royce Rolls-Royce had give me a car that week I didn’t buy the Rolls-Royce Rolls-Royce gave me a car that week so I’m driving

This car and I’m I’m actually driving the car and I’m doing this on the steering wheel the whole way from where I was stand with about a 40-minute drive I’m doing this and by the time I got to the golf course I was like oh man I’m so loose it’s ridiculous

And so that’s how I started off in the Sunday you needed a cigarette after that uh moment there with your your steering wheel exactly uh this is how it played out it’s hard not to get excited but Greg Norman’s been on this road so many [Applause] times [Applause] let’s for [Applause]

64 not a bad closing round 64 eight birdies 64 that’s how you win a major yeah when I walked to the first te I knew I was um the battle was ahead cuz F was in the group ahead of me I was played with Langer obviously um couples

Was there Ernie Ells was there price was there and when I looked up at the leaderboard um because you get a feel of I always want to understand how the play was happening that day see scores see scores see the whole location stuff like that and you could see everybody was the

Who’s who were there and everybody was shooting low and I walked to the first te I said you better go low today or somebody’s going to lap you and it’s not it’s easier said than done right but um you knew if you didn’t make a bunch of

Birdies you would be left behind and I made a lot of birdies that day but so did everybody else and uh but one of the unique experiences of that wasn’t holding The clar Jug there was a gentleman called Jean sarzen came up to me as I walked off the 18th green and um

You one of the legends of the history of the game The Squire yeah the Squire and um you know the comment that he made to me is I I walked off that 18 green is something you take with you for the rest of your life like you know for Jean

Saron to say to me I was in a of your golf was like okay that’s that’s a pretty cool statement that’s when you know You’ have elevated yourself to a position in the world of golf where you know people do respect you for what you do but you let people

In yes for a change yeah it was was rare for you to do that yeah very much so you trusted other people yes I mean you get to a point where where you do you have to um I trusted Butch I trusted Tony um there was you know pet rovic I trusted

There’s people I allowed in that stage I mean now I’m 17 years into you know into my career when I should have been doing that probably 10 years earlier yeah you have a great business Acumen and and this even applied to the PGA Tour cuz

You wanted to do a World Golf Tour and yes and and you know maybe it’s a sensitive subject to you because it felt like you were trying to do something you understood what the World of Golf was and how maybe you could monetize that the players could be involved on this

And then you go to Tim finchum at the PGA Tour and what’s he say to your idea oh my gosh um slay the dreamer right he hated the idea why I had the um the vision the business plan all written out where it was a partnership with the

Players and I want of the players to be part of this opportunity um today we play for our prize money and all that stuff we’re members of the tour and stuff but I wanted them to have skin in the game ownership of this and when I

Built on my business model and I took the Fox News not Fox News Fox Sports excuse me and I need a television you need the players you need television if you have those you’re going to get sponsorship right was there going to be relegation that you’re if you’re in the

Top 30 you get to go and then if you’re not like you drop out you drop out you had to be at a certain certain top but is this what the WGC is now did they rip off your idea they they kind of ripped off my

Idea they tried to do it on a global front but it didn’t really work now they pulled everything back internally they play a few tournaments in China now I think um but mine was spread all over the world um so anyway back to what Tim finin was it was like slay the dreamer

Why because of what I did with television network I mean the amount of money that fox offered to do the World Golf Tour world world golf championships basically um was far more than what the PGA Tour television deal was so this is rert Murdoch yes and uh he was you he

Thought it was a great idea right this is like exhibition match on steroids and you’re going to have the best players in the world there all the time so for him it was like a no-brainer deal um but it’s because we had negotiated a a higher TV rights deal than the PJ tour

Now the wheel now they they didn’t like that at all so they came at me pretty hard lot of negative propaganda was written about me uh Greg Norman collection at the time was doing extremely well and we I was getting letters from um people who were Distributing our clothes saying we’re

Going to drop your clothing line because you’re destroying the game of golf like I’m destroying the game of golf how am I destroying the game of golf and so I had to go on this six month almost a year long deal where I call up all these people personally and say hey there’s

Two sides to every story hear my side of the story and you can make your decision no if you want to drop Greg noral collection clothing fine drop it but it was took that’s the propaganda I hated and that’s what um I still carry a

Bit of a grudge to today because it was for the betterment of the game it’s just because we negotiated a better deal other people want to torpedo our idea you’re playing less golf nagging injuries are you thinking we’ve seen the best of Greg Norman yes I

I knew that for sure yeah um my body was hurting I’ve had 13 surgeries from golf um and my body was hurting and then I didn’t want to stand on the driving range for 10 hours a day anymore um so I I naturally gravitated into a worldall

Where it didn’t hurt a world where I was enjoying a world that I was actually getting a lot of rewards for it was a private world you know a world that nobody could get a look in the Med didn’t know what I was doing my golf course design business was starting to

Take off I’d never realized I was be so passionate about the golf course’s own business you know and building golf courses all around the world to where we are today opening 104 of them all these things that were just happening at the same time over here working with some

Fantastic people in my office and all of a sudden I was enjoying it and I wasn’t enjoying it over here so I just quietly rode off into the sunset I never retired from the game of golf I never said I quit I just quietly rode off in the

Sunset and and I here I am but you got to 1996 at the Masters how are you feeling physically going into that um I was hurting my back was hurting um I had bad hip I had bad back just from all the rotation and hitting

The ball as hard as I hit it um I was still I was feeling pretty good but knew there was something not right with my golf swing and I couldn’t put my finger on it Butch couldn’t put his finger on it um you know I was working the work to

Try to understand it but I I couldn’t get it even though I played well I got to myself put myself in a position so you’re surprised you’re playing that well those first three days yes I I was actually um because I I just didn’t feel like my

Normal golfer body me what was said the night before with your you’re around friends you’re leading by six shots um anybody coronating you and say oh no look there was a British journalist called Peter de Brer a crutch of the old you know Palm great guy got

On very well with him and there’s Peter on the end of the bar drinking his scotch and he says yeah not even you can up a six shot lead tomorrow excuse my French so I walk out and I go oh my gosh why did they even say something like that right because

You you don’t want to have that yet and so I walk out and I go forget it forget it forget it forget it get in the car and just just let go home and um so anyway that was that was Peter but he meant it in in good all in good faith

And honesty and uh but that was the last thing that I remember that really rattled my cage a bit you know when I look back on it FDO didn’t want to let go of you it really looked like that that he was holding on and I I don’t know what was said but

I think that was like a genuine I I’m excited I just won the Masters but I don’t know what to say to you yeah no I’ll tell you what he said he said um it was about the media he said don’t let the bosters get to

You because you know you have to go to the media room you have to face your music right nothing wrong with that that’s that’s prob they got their profession I got my profession um but that’s what he he didn’t want them to get into my head you have a great quote

It’s one of my favorite quotes with an athlete you expect success you respect failure failure can humble you it can and and that that tournament there um I still have probably 8 to 12,000 letters from people from that tournament um who who wrote to me that because I wanted to

Save each and every one of them because it was really important because most of them were like you taught me so much you’ve helped me teach my children so much I went to the school where my kids were at the following week and I went to the soccer field where my son was

Playing soccer and this guy came out to me and he put his arm around me he said you’ve taught me so much how to teach my child about the game how to you know respect and and treat and even in Failure how you carry yourself um so I

Actually won that golf tournament a lot of ways uh because I learned so much from the outpouring from people around the world they wanted me to win people wanted Nick to win too but at the end of the day from that moment onward my life changed why don’t you still play people

Love you the way I’m fit today and my flexibility if I decided to go out and start hitting bulls for the next three to six months I think I could get out there and compete again but I just don’t want to do it what’s next for you I

Would love to instill a little bit of the experience and knowledge that I have developed whether it’s through failure or whether through success I see great players today on TV making fundamental mistakes and it just irks me where I just want to jump through that TV screen and just say hey

You crazy idiot this what I can help you I can help you I can help you but you know but imagine if somebody wanted to do that to you back when you were playing Jack did Jack Nicholas did but that was the one guy you could listen to

Yes there were other players too Raymond Floyd was a great one Tom Watson he’s great comment to me once you bite that snake’s head off that snake’s Dead Forever that’s all he had to tell me nothing about my goal swing anything like that it just get whatever demons in

Your head bite that head off and throw it away so um you know when he told me that I had a couple little things I used to do mentally when I wore hat I used to squat down on the side of the Green close my eyes no the TV couldn’t see you

Because of the hat and if I was in such a bad mood there’ be two things I’d do myself I take my thumb and i’ shove it underneath my rib cage it really hurts by the way really hurts as hard as you can to take all that pain and just take

That everything bad you got in your head and it’ll come out in here and then you go okay and the other one was I close my eyes and the old toilets with a chain on it I would close my eyes and I pull the chain and I’d flush all the out of

Me mentally picture everything everything bad in my body I would just dump it right out there and then and my body would go done so just little things like that that I would do damn I’m learning a whole lot about your your bodily functions here I’m I’m

Learning a lot all right I got some fun questions here okay all right here we go what’s a day off look like to you feel like to you nowadays taking my grand grandson out fishing or if I’m on a ranch um jumping on my horse or I like the grade

Mo roads I have a 670d motor grader or maintainer about 93 miles of roads on my Ranch and I’ll go grade my roads what stresses you out um what stresses me out aside from shitty golf um what stresses me out um people not executing on their

Jobs you know um I get frustrated uh it takes a little bit too much time to get something done um that D and dip thing you know get in there and get it done um that frustrates me you learn more about somebody in defeat then you do Victory

And we learned an awful lot you’re a true champion and I hope the little guy inside you had a great time today ladies and gentlemen Greg [Applause] Norman