More Top Picks Best Water Softeners
player ready...A lot of sports-magazine journalism these days comes with what would best be described as a “you wish” message.
You wish you had LeBron James’ money. You wish you had Tom Brady’s wife. You wish you had Derek Jeter’s supermodel-a-week habit. You wish you had Kevin Garnett’s tricked-out rides, crib and home-entertainment system.
The unwritten message is that, alas, you don’t and never will, so try to get over it, which you won’t, at least not until you get some heavy-duty counseling.
And even then …
We oldsters look at the demographically targeted youngsters and shake our heads at their shallowness. You don’t know what’s important in life.
How, then, to explain our “we-wish” envy of 54-year-old Greg Norman?
We wish we could cut as dashing a figure as he does. We wish we could be half as fit as he is. We wish we could own vineyards, design golf courses, fly our own jet and be born with what appears to be self-whitening teeth. (Message to our wives: We do not, dears, wish we were married to Chris Evert, as he is. We definitely do not wish we had his $103 million divorce-settlement bill.)
We wish we could shoot a 2-under 70 at the Masters, as Norman did in the first round Thursday.
Following him around Augusta National Golf Club is to be reminded that you will never, ever have the kind of affirmation he receives on a regular basis. Every time he walked to a tee, down a fairway or to a green, fans greeted him with enthusiastic applause. He received a standing ovation when he walked to the 18th green and an outpouring of sympathy normally reserved for the death of a beloved pet when he missed the ensuing 3-foot birdie putt.
And he tipped his cap and gave a smile that let you know that, despite the measly par, he knows he has it made.
And you don’t begrudge him it because, well, he’s right.
“The fans are very happy to see him,” said Evert, who followed Norman on Thursday. “I think he needs to feel that, and he is feeling it.”
After a six-year absence, he’s back at the place that brought him to his knees so often. He carries himself like he has won here, and in a way, he has, though not in the traditional way. After his epic collapse against Nick Faldo in 1996, blowing a six-shot lead going into the final round, he became something of a sympathetic character. But even that doesn’t quite capture the way fans feel about him here. The grace he showed in the face of that failure touched people. He somehow became more human.
“I play the game of golf with my heart on my sleeve, and I’ve done very well out of the game,” he said. “And when I come here, people probably feel for me, some of the things that have happened around here, and really enjoy seeing me back here. I played my way back into this golf tournament, which very few people can say at the age of 54, and it’s a feather in my cap, to say the least.”
One of the “things” that happened to him at the Masters came in 1987, when Larry Mize chipped in from 140 feet on the second playoff hole to beat Norman. The 50-year-old Mize shot 67 Thursday and is two strokes off the lead. Hmmmm. Mize-Norman II, the Now It’s Personal AARP Showdown?
Norman went through a nasty, prolonged, very public divorce, then last June married Evert, the 54-year-old former tennis star. He didn’t expect to be here this week or ever again, but his third-place tie in last year’s British Open earned him a spot at Augusta. It was his best finish in a major since he finished third in the 1999 Masters.
“I’m enjoying playing golf again,” he said. “I went through three years, a pretty tough three years, and you can’t really focus on two things at one time 100 percent when you have to tidy things up behind the scenes. And that was a bit of a drain and took a lot of energy away from the game. I really didn’t want to go play golf, to tell you the truth.
“But now I’ve got great support with Chrissie. She wants me out there to play. She knows how much I enjoy playing. She actually comes and watches me practice. It’s great. She’s very encouraging in that way.”
This was Evert’s first Masters, and she called it “the Wimbledon of golf” afterward.
“She wishes she could get back out there and play [competitive tennis], because she sees the passion that I have, and I’m at the age where … my sport allows me to do it for whatever crazy reason,” Norman said. “You know, tennis, if you do not have your speed on the court, then you are going to get beaten. She can still play. She can still hit it. She can do all the shots.”
Here’s to middle age and golf equipment technology.
More Top Picks Best Pex Crimp Tools For Home Plumbing
Norman is not one of the really old guys here, the museum pieces who add charm to this place. He’s a competitive golfer. He can still play.
And if he can play at the ripe age of 54, why can’t we do special things? OK, the logic doesn’t necessarily extend to us. How about this: If he can play, maybe we’re not as deceased as we thought we were.
Better. Much better.
———-