Giving Greg Norman his props … even though he came in third
Had Greg Norman closed out a victory in The Open Championship today, his performance might have gone down as one of golf’s all-time great achievements. But even though a slow start and a balky putter kept Norman from grabbing the Claret Cup, I still think his effort deserve a lot of props.
To put Norman’s achievement in some perspective, consider the fact that, with everybody watching and all the pressure on him, he still had a better weekend than nearly everyone in the Top 10 after two rounds of the Championship. KJ Choi, Camilo Villegas, Rocco Mediate, Robert Allenby and David Duvall all blew up over the weekend after posting good scores on Thursday and Friday. Though Norman could have faded away and everybody would have smiled and been pleased by the mini-resurgence, he really played great over the weekend and simply got beat by Padrig Harrington who was rock-steady throughout the back 9.
Because he did not win, Norman’s performance will only merit a footnote in major history. But I really think it was more historic and more of an amazing achievement than most will remember years from now.
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