Norman's game is looking up Down Under
Posted: Tuesday December 29, 1998 07:56 PM
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On a scorching summer day in Australia, Norman (above) and Elkington lost only five of the 35 holes they played Jack Atley/Allsport |
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) -- The tabloid headlines screamed that Greg Norman was playing too much too soon. His doctor wanted him to go easy until Sunday and take a break when the Presidents Cup is over.
Right.
"I do need the rest," Norman said Friday after playing much like the Norman of old in helping the International team to a 7-3 lead after the first day of matches. "But I knew I was playing well coming in here."
In other words, there was no way Norman was going to miss this Presidents Cup. And there was no way he was going to play the game any differently from how he has in 20-plus years as one of golf's most exciting players.
The six-week break prescribed by Richard Hawkins, the Colorado surgeon who operated on his left shoulder April 22, is supposed to start Sunday night. Norman looks as if he's trying to milk everything he can out of his game until then.
He and fellow Aussie Steve Elkington were an unstoppable pairing in the first day of matches, first beating Jim Furyk and John Huston in the morning alternate-shot matches, then keeping Furyk and Mark O'Meara from making a run in a best-ball match.
No more than 30 minutes after his first match, Norman quickly put his team ahead with a birdie on the first hole and an eagle on the second. The cheers got only louder from a gallery that believes Norman is responsible for these matches coming to Australia in the first place.
Peter Thomson, the five-time British Open champion and captain of the International team, said as much during the opening ceremonies. After eight national anthems and speeches by dignitaries, Thomson finally got to introduce his team. He saved Norman for last.
"He is something special, isn't he?" Thomson said. "The reason that the Presidents Cup is here in Melbourne is due to the influence and the power of persuasion of Greg Norman."
Norman proved Friday he can still influence a thing or two inside the ropes.
He and Elkington were the only team that remained intact for the morning alternate-shot matches and the afternoon best-ball, and Thomson will send them out again to start the second day.
And why shouldn't he?
On a scorching summer day in Australia, Norman and Elkington lost only five of the 35 holes they played.
"That's as good as we've ever played," Elkington said.
The same could be said for the International team. When U.S. captain Jack Nicklaus gathered his troops at the end of a long and frustrating day, he quickly concluded that his 12 players -- whom Thomson referred to in the opening ceremonies as the "mightiest team of golfers in the world" -- had played well.
Just not well enough.
"Not one of them came back and said they played poorly," Nicklaus said. "The other team played better."
These may be Norman's matches, but he wasn't solely responsible for the International team's first lead in the three-year history of the Presidents Cup.
Frank Nobilo hit the putt heard 'round Melbourne, a 40-footer that deflated America's best two players -- David Duval and Mark O'Meara -- and kept them from halving the first match. Shigeki Maruyama, barely known outside Japan, teamed beautifully with Craig Parry and also with countryman Joe Ozaki for a 2-0 record in his first matches.
Stuart Appleby and Vijay Singh rallied during the final four holes to beat Tiger Woods and Justin Leonard, while Ernie Els and Nick Price each made crucial putts in earning a draw with Duval and Mickelson.
Every International player won at least one match on the first day. The Americans, meanwhile, won only two of 10 matches outright. Both of those included Fred Couples, their most experienced player who is 8-1-0 in the Presidents Cup.
"We can come back," Couples said, who won his best-ball match with Davis Love III with an approach to 2 feet on the final hole. "But obviously, we need to get maybe six out of the 10 matches. It's not like a basketball game where you're down with 30 seconds to go. It can be done."
Not if Norman has anything to say about that.
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