Norman makes a great run

 

I never was much of a Greg Norman fan back in his glory days.

 

I don’t know what it was. He was one of the best golfers ever, but he always was so focused, he didn’t display a lot of personality. At least, I didn’t warm up to him.

 

I was a big Norman fan last weekend, though. His charge to the top of the leader board in the British Open – excuse me, the Open Championship – was just terrific. So, I was pulling for him, although I was going to hate to read all the stories that were going to concentrate on his new wife, Chris Evert.

 

Why root for Norman after being a non-fan of his for three decades? Well, he’s an underdog now, and he’s 53 years old. The age surprised me. I thought he was a bit older than that, although he still is quite a bit younger than I am.

 

Another reason. The guy is a great, great player who, for one reason or another, has ended up being a runnerup an unheard of eight times in major tournaments, which is what he really is known for ... in addition to being incredibly rich. I was hoping he’d win at Royal Birkdale and become known as the oldest player  ever to win a major.

 

He didn’t win, but he made a great run. Congratulations, Greg.