What an inspiration Greg Norman is. Despite his hard-luck life (his 80 professional wins, his wealth, his wineries, his celebrity wife) he has continued to persevere and now - at the advanced age of 53 - leads the British Open at the halfway mark. 25 years ago Norman was heralded as the next Jack Nicklaus and although he won two majors and attained the world #1 ranking he is known more for his defeats than his victories. Who can forget the miracle shots of Bob Tway and Larry Mize and Norman's own painful collapse in the 1996 Masters? But who can recall the two majors Norman actually won?
To create effective drama you have to contrast a weak hero with a powerful adversary and allow the hero to win. Norman has always played the wrong part, he's always been the powerful adversary: the guy with the charisma, the chiseled features, the ruddy face, the blonde hair, the white teeth, the next Nicklaus, the one who can't lose. He so obviously has to lose I can't believe I was ever fooled into thinking otherwise. I mean, c'mon, his nickname is the The Shark. When does the shark ever win? In Jaws? Jaws 2? What about Jaws 4 - The Revenge? No, even in The Revenge the shark is killed.
So can Greg Norman win this week? Have his myriad defeats changed him from powerful adversary to weak hero? Is this finally the week that ends with his arms raised and his ruddy face furrowed with tears? Uh... in short, NO. His nickname is still The Shark, he still embraces that nickname (see all the logos), he just married Chris Evert in a 2 million dollar wedding, he still has his own plane. So no, he won't win, he's still too strong, still the anti-hero, still the man who will be vanquished in the final scene on Sunday.
Instead look for Jean Van De Velde (talk about weak heroes), who is stalking at only 4 shots back.




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