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Greg Norman (born February 10, 1955 in Queensland,
Australia), is an Australian professional
golf|golfer who spent 331 weeks as the world's
number one Official World Golf Rankings|ranked
golfer in the 1980s and 1990s. He is nicknamed
"The Shark".

==Career outline==
Norman began his career as a trainee in the Royal
Queensland golf shop, earning Australian
dollar|AUD 38 a week. The first professional
tournament he won was the 1976 West Lakes Classic
in his home country, and he soon moved on to
success on the European Tour and later the PGA
Tour.

Norman won The Open Championship twice, in 1986
and 1993.  Despite "The Great White Shark"'s (a
reference to a shark inhabiting Australian waters
as well as Norman's size and blonde locks) huge
success on the US PGA TOUR and many wins in other
events around the world, Norman will be forever
regarded as underachieving given his talents by
missing out in The Masters Tournament|The Masters,
US Open (golf)|US Open, and PGA Championship. He
was equally a victim of his own bad luck, good
luck on the part of his fellow golfers (losing a
near-certain PGA Championship win in 1986 after
Bob Tway holed a bunker shot, and losing The
Masters the following year in a playoff by an even
more miraculous 45-yard chip shot from Larry
Mize), and a couple of infamous "chokes" where
Norman's wobble-prone putting got the better of
him. To underscore this point, in 1986, he led all
four majors after the third round, but only won
The Open. Norman's most infamous "choke" may be
the 1996 version of The Masters, where he blew a
six-stroke lead in the final round and lost the
tournament to Nick Faldo by five strokes. He has
twenty nine top ten finishes in majors.

After Jack Nicklaus, Norman was regarded as one of
the game's greatest ever long hitters.  In his
heyday, driving off the tee, usually incredibly
straight, he intimidated most of his fellow
professionals.  This was all with a persimmon
(wood) head on the driver.  With the advent of the
"metal wood" by Taylor Made and subsequently the
great advances in golf club technology especally
the variable face depth driver, his dominance
became much diminished. This was beacause the "new
technology"  enabled less precise ball striking
with equal or even better results in accuracy and
distance.  Subsequent advances in golf ball
technology, enabling the ball to be hit further
and stopped faster than ever before has only
served to even out the abilities of players.  Both
the Royal and Ancient and the greatest golfer of
all time, Jack Nicklaus, have argued against the
advances in technology, saying that it make
classic courses obsolete and even out the
competitiion too much.  The greatest case for and
against this has been Tiger Woods, whose
achievments have ridiculed the great courses of
the past, but placed him well ahead of the rest of
the  professional golfers in the world.

Norman's friendly image and articulate nature has
made him a perfect spokesman for a wide range of
products, including the usual array of golf
equipment but extending well beyond.  Whilst
continuing to play tournaments, his growing
business interests take up an increasing amount of
his time.  His personal wealth is estimated to be
in the hundreds of millions of US dollars.

Norman's hobbies include offshore Sport
fishing|game fishing—he has owned a
succession of increasingly large and luxurious
boats (though his latest may best be described as
a small ship) for the purpose.  Based in Hobe
Sound, Florida, he typically plays only one or two
tournaments per year in his homeland.

He married his American (?) wife Laura in 1981 and
has two children.

In 1986 Norman was awarded the BBC Sports
Personality of the Year Overseas Personality
Award, a feat he replicated in 1993 to join
Muhammad Ali and Björn Borg as multiple winners.

==Results in major championships==
Norman had twenty nine top ten finishes in the
majors between 1979 and 1999. In 2005 he qualified
to play on the Champions Tour. He will probably
continue to enter some majors as a senior, but he
is unlikely to contend for further major titles. 
{| cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" border="1"
style="font-size: 95%; border: #aaa solid 1px;
border-collapse: collapse;"
|- bgcolor="#eeeeee"
! Tournament !! 1977 !! 1978 !! 1979 !! 1980 !!
1981 !! 1982 !! 1983 !! 1984 !! 1985 !! 1986 !!
1987 !! 1988 !! 1989 !! 1990 
|-
|Masters Tournament
|align="center"|DNP
|align="center"|DNP
|align="center"|DNP
|align="center"|DNP
|align="center"|4
|align="center"|T36
|align="center"|T30
|align="center"|T25
|align="center"|T47
|align="center"|T2
|align="center"|2
|align="center"|T5
|align="center"|T3
|align="center"|CUT

|-
|U.S. Open (golf)|U.S. Open
|align="center"|DNP
|align="center"|DNP
|align="center"|T48
|align="center"|DNP
|align="center"|T33
|align="center"|DNP
|align="center"|T50
|align="center"|2
|align="center"|T15
|align="center"|T12
|align="center"|T51
|align="center"|WD
|align="center"|T33
|align="center"|T5

|-
|The Open Championship|British Open
|align="center"|T71
|align="center"|T29
|align="center"|T10
|align="center"|CUT
|align="center"|T31
|align="center"|T27
|align="center"|T19
|align="center"|T6
|align="center"|T16
|align="center"|1
|align="center"|T33
|align="center"|DNP
|align="center"|T2
|align="center"|T6

|-
|PGA Championship
|align="center"|DNP
|align="center"|DNP
|align="center"|DNP
|align="center"|DNP
|align="center"|T4
|align="center"|T5
|align="center"|T42
|align="center"|T39
|align="center"|CUT
|align="center"|2
|align="center"|70
|align="center"|T9
|align="center"|T12
|align="center"|T19
|}

{| cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" border="1"
style="font-size: 95%; border: #aaa solid 1px;
border-collapse: collapse;"
|- bgcolor="#eeeeee"
! Tournament !! 1991 !! 1992 !! 1993 !! 1994 !!
1995 !! 1996 !! 1997 !! 1998 !! 1999 !! 2000 !!
2001 !! 2002 !! 2003 !! 2004
|-
|Masters Tournament
|align="center"|CUT
|align="center"|T6
|align="center"|T31
|align="center"|T18
|align="center"|T3
|align="center"|2
|align="center"|CUT
|align="center"|CUT
|align="center"|3
|align="center"|T11
|align="center"|CUT
|align="center"|T36
|align="center"|DNP
|align="center"|DNP

|-
|U.S. Open (golf)|U.S. Open
|align="center"|WD
|align="center"|DNP
|align="center"|CUT
|align="center"|T6
|align="center"|2
|align="center"|T10
|align="center"|CUT
|align="center"|DNP
|align="center"|CUT
|align="center"|CUT
|align="center"|DNP
|align="center"|T59
|align="center"|DNP
|align="center"|DNP

|-
|The Open Championship|British Open
|align="center"|T9
|align="center"|18
|align="center"|1
|align="center"|T11
|align="center"|T15
|align="center"|T7
|align="center"|T36
|align="center"|DNP
|align="center"|6
|align="center"|DNP
|align="center"|DNP
|align="center"|T18
|align="center"|T18
|align="center"|CUT

|-
|PGA Championship
|align="center"|T32
|align="center"|T15
|align="center"|2
|align="center"|T4
|align="center"|T20
|align="center"|T17
|align="center"|T13
|align="center"|DNP
|align="center"|CUT
|align="center"|CUT
|align="center"|T29
|align="center"|T53
|align="center"|CUT
|align="center"|DNP
|}

DNP = did not play

WD = started but withdrew

CUT = missed the half way cut

"T" indicates a tie for a place.

==PGA Tour wins==
*1984  Kemper Open, Canadian Open
*1986  Panasonic Las Vegas Invitational, Kemper
Open, The Open Championship
*1988  CI Heritage Golf Classic
*1989  The INTERNATIONAL|The International, 
Greater Milwaukee Open
*1990  Ford Championship at Doral|Doral-Ryder
Open, Memorial Tournament
*1992  Canadian Open
*1993  Ford Championship at Doral|Doral-Ryder
Open, The Open Championship
*1994  The Players Championship
*1995  Memorial Tournament, Canon Greater Hartford
Open, WGC-NEC Invitational|NEC World Series of
Golf
*1996  Ford Championship at Doral|Doral-Ryder Open
*1997  FedEx St. Jude Classic, WGC-NEC
Invitational|NEC World Series of Golf

==European Tour wins==
*1977 Martini International 
*1979 Martini International 
*1980 Paco Rabanne Open de France, Scandinavian
Enterprise Open, State Express Classic, Benson &
Hedges International 
*1981 Martini International, Dunlop Masters  
*1982 Dunlop Masters, State Express English
Classic, Benson & Hedges International Open
*1986 The Open Championship, Panasonic European
Open  
*1988 Lancia Italian Open
*1993 The Open Championship
*1994 Johnnie Walker Classic   

==Wins in Australasia==
*1976 Westlakes Classic
*1978 New South Wales Open, Traralgon Classic,
Caltex Festival of Sydney Open, South Seas Classic

*1979 Traralgon Classic 
*1980 Australian Open (golf)|Australian Open
*1981 Australian Masters 
*1983 Australian Masters, Stefan Queensland Open,
National Panasonic New South Wales Open
*1984 Victorian Open, Australian Masters,
Australian PGA
*1985 Toshiba Australian PGA Championship,
National Panasonic Australian Open 
*1986 Stefan Queensland Open, National Panasonic
New South Wales Open, West End Jubilee South
Australian Open, National Panasonic Western
Australian Open 
*1987 Australian Masters, National Panasonic
Australian Open 
*1988 Palm Meadows Cup, ESP Open, PGA National
Tournament Players Championship, Panasonic New
South Wales Open 
*1989 Australian Masters, PGA National Tournament
Players Championship 
*1990 Australian Masters
*1995 Australian Open (golf)|Australian Open
*1996 Ford South Australian Open, Australian Open
(golf)|Australian Open  
*1998 Greg Norman Holden International

==Other wins==
*1977 Kuzuhz International (Japan)  
*1979 Hong Kong Open (golf)|Hong Kong Open
*1980 Suntory World Match Play Championship
(England - not a European Tour event at that time)

*1983 Hong Kong Open (golf)|Hong Kong Open, Cannes
Invitational (France - not a European Tour event),
Suntory World Match Play Championship (England -
not a European Tour event at that time), Kapalua
International (United States) 
*1985 Alfred Dunhill Cup (United Kingdom - team) 
*1986 Suntory World Match Play Championship
(England - not a European Tour event at that
time), Alfred Dunhill Cup (United Kingdom - team),
PGA Grand Slam of Golf 
*1989 Chunichi Crowns (Japan)
*1993 Taiheyo Masters (Japan), PGA Grand Slam of
Golf (U.S. - unofficial event) 
*1994 PGA Grand Slam of Golf (U.S. - unofficial
event)  
*1995 Fred Meyer Challenge (with Brad Faxon) 
*1996 Fred Meyer Challenge (with Brad Faxon) 
*1997 Fred Meyer Challenge (with Brad Faxon),
Andersen Consulting World Championship. 
*1998 Franklin Templeton Shootout (with Steve
Elkington) 
*2001 Skins Game

==See also==
*Golfers with most PGA Tour wins
*Golfers with most European Tour wins
*Sanctuary Lakes

==External links==
*http://www.shark.com/ Shark.com Greg Norman's
official personal and business web site
*http://www.pgatour.com/players/bio/132080 Profile
on the PGA Tour's website
*http://www.golfstarsonline.com/N/Greg_Norman/
Greg Norman at Golf Stars Online Directory of
interviews, sites and feature articles with or
about Greg Norman
*http://golf.about.com/od/golfersmen/p/greg_norman
.htm Greg Norman on About.com Profile and stats
*http://www.macgregorgolf.com/tour/tour_display.as
px?s=p&b=gn Greg Norman on MacGregor Golf Norman
on MacGregor Golf's Tour Staff

Golf world number ones (men)