Norman commits for 3 years

The year 2009 may turn out to be a watershed one for Australian Golf. Along with Tiger Woods appearing at the 2009 Australian Masters in November, politicians meeting with Golf Australia representatives last week and the formation of the OneAsia Tour, Greg Norman yesterday announced he will play in the Australian Open in Sydney for the next three years.

The Australian Open is now a part of the OneAsia Tour and the tournament was once considered very prestigious on the world stage. Norman is committed to ensuring it returns to it’s rightful world ranking. Despite being a banana-bender, he has also accepted a role as an ambassador for Events NSW to promote not only golf in New South Wales but all events staged on behalf of the state.

“I look forward to returning to Sydney to play the Australian Open this December. I’m particularly pleased that Golf Australia have selected the NSW Golf Club as the venue. Not only is the venue a favourite amongst the players it will provide an excellent backdrop for showcasing Sydney and NSW as an extraordinary golf destination.” Norman said

Norman has won the Stonehaven Cup five times and after his showing at the British Open last year, he could threaten to win it a sixth time. but it’s almost an after thought. This announcement has much bigger significance.

Greg Norman was denounced (particularly by the powers that ran the US PGA Tour) many years ago after proposing a World Golf Tour. It was a revolutionary and controversial idea but was something I believe could have changed golf forever, Tiger or no Tiger. With The Shark back involved in the development of Australian Golf on and off the course, we’re in good shape.

Australian Golf has been in the doldrums for too long. Sailing around in circles looking for some wind to push it in the right direction. How ironic it may be that a shark may create the swell that gets the ship moving again.

*Image courtesy of Golf Australia

3 thoughts on “Norman commits for 3 years

  • I remember that Greg Norman World Golf Tour thing, Didn’t it fail because the PGA Tour said the players would forfeit their cards if they went to the WGT? As I recall, it was proposed to be very lucrative for players.

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  • Yeah that’s the one. Finchem didn’t like the idea of it and threatened to take player tour cards away along with a whole load other things.

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  • Congrats from LinksLifeGolf….you guys do it right!

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