It’s all happening way too fast, and I am not just talking about the PGA Tour’s knees giving way to LIV (or ‘PIF’ as Rory prefers to call it) but everything else that has led us to this point.
Not too long ago we were conditioned to the Sunday afternoon Major meltdowns and misfortunes of Greg Norman, despite being the best player in the world at the time. Today he is closing in on being 70 years old and granted, he’s looking fitter than most men half his age. But seriously, is the earth spinning faster, or am I just feeling a little nostalgic about the Price, Norman, Els and Faldo days right now?
Nick Price recently visited Zimbabwe and watching him step into the same pre-shot routine and trigger-move from his glory days as world No 1, as he teed off at a Wednesday School at Borrowdale Brooke, really hit home. We are all getting a little older but hopefully a little wiser too and it’s a certainty that time waits for absolutely no man.
One incredibly valuable lesson which I learned from Nick years ago, was admiring the way in which he engaged with people.
Even when he was at the top of the golfing world throughout the ’90s, he would still return to Zimbabwe and play at the Zim Open at either Royal Harare or Chapman Golf Club and play for one-10th of the prize money. While walking the fairways, he would often point into the crowd and catch people off guard by remembering their names, or sending best wishes to their parents. It’s hard to imagine any player (other than possibly Jon Rahm) doing that today.
Very few PGA Tour players handled the whole ‘LIV saga’ with as much grace and humility as Rahm. He rose above the noise and was not only content with his own decision to decline but supported his fellow Spaniards and other friends throughout the first season.
Now that it all seems to be ‘coming out in the wash’, the same cannot be said for a lot of other players, executives and pundits. The scale of collateral damage will only be evident once the dust settles but as we sit here today, Brandel Chamblee seems to have aged 10 years in the past month, while Jay Monahan was on air scoffing down a bowl of humble pie throughout the entire interview as the PIF’s Crown Prince sat on the couch next to him.
The saddest part of it all has got to be Norman, though. He single-handedly carved the memo for this global super-league out of stone with his own two hands. It looks like he will be the first, and possibly the only head to roll. While I quietly hope for just one more bounce-back birdie at this late stage in his career, it seems that the Great White Shark will be fed to the fishes.
– This column first appeared in the July 2023 issue of Compleat Golfer magazine.
