Greg Norman is back at the Masters Tournament with a new shoulder and a new sense of purpose.
``One thing I realize now is golf is not everything,'' the 44-year-old Norman said Tuesday at the Augusta National Golf Club as he prepared to make his 19th Masters start and his first since undergoing shoulder surgery in April 1998. ``Yes, I want to win the Masters, absolutely. But it's not a priority. There are other priorities that I enjoy doing.''
Is this the same intense, driven Great White Shark, the one who reigned supreme atop the World Golf Ranking for a record 331 weeks? Is this the same Norman who never hid from the fact that the Masters is the one championship he has coveted more than any other?
``He looks like the old Greg Norman to me,'' said close friend Nick Price.
Looks can be deceiving. Norman is anything but the player he once was. If anything, mentally and physically, he's stronger than ever.
``From a shoulder standpoint, I'm physically stronger than what it was 2 1/2 years ago,'' Norman said. ``From the standpoint of getting out there and playing, I still have the enthusiasm to do that.''
Though the seven-month layoff he spent rehabbing his shoulder hasn't altered his competitive spirit, it certainly has had a profound impact on his psyche.
``I'm very happy now; I even enjoy playing the game of golf,'' Norman said. ``I enjoy the way I'm hitting the golf ball. I know it's a matter of time before I'll get back there in the winner's circle. But now I don't want to force it. I'm very easy about things. I'm very relaxed about things. I want things to evolve to the way things were at this time last year.''
Norman says the respite was a time of introspection.
``My whole career was just being on the first tee and taking the consequences and what happens on the first tee and what comes up after the 18th hole,'' Norman said. ``It encapsulates you so much, the intensity is so great there, whether you're No. 1 in the world or whether you've lost the Masters or lost the British Open or the U.S. Open. It takes everything else out of your life. You don't have the chance to sit back and see and understand the other good things in life are really out there that you don't have the time to spend on it.''
With a new and improved mindset, Norman made a valiant return to golf late last year. With fellow Aussie Steve Elkington, Norman won his own Shark Shootout and gave Tiger Woods a run for his money in the President's Cup, losing 1-up in Sunday's singles play. Last month, he topped $12 million in career earnings on the PGA Tour with a tie for 19th at Doral.
Norman comes to Augusta after losing ``6 or 7 pounds'' last week when a stomach virus forced him out of the BellSouth Classic at TPC at Sugarloaf, the Duluth, Ga., course he designed. He said locker room attendants at his home course, The Medalist Club in Hobe Sound, Fla., put two rolls of toilet paper in his locker, instead of towels, when he tried to practice last weekend.
This week could provide the greatest test of all for Norman, his new shoulder and new mindset. The old Norman, the man with 74 victories worldwide, including two British Opens, agonized over his past Masters catastrophes.
Though the desire to win the elusive green jacket remains, the new Norman says he is better-equipped to handle failure.
``In this situation with the Masters, when you want somthing as much as you want it, sometimes you get it, sometimes you don't,'' Norman said. ``But if I never get this golf tournament, there wouldn't be a golf tournament on the planet that I can say I've enjoyed more than this one.''
Wiser Shark still hungers after victory 
