Date: October 12, 2007
Author:

Norman a legendary Great White Shark

Greg Norman has been named an official Legend at the Sport Australia Hall of Fame annual dinner in Melbourne on Thursday night. The Great White Shark was given the award in honour of his spectacular 30-year career which included spending 331 weeks as the world&aposs top-ranked golfer. However, the Great White Shark could not have been more humble in front of a crowd of 800 people, saying in the Herald-Sun, “All I did was chase a golf ball around.” Having flown out from the United States, where he now lives, for the award night, Norman went on to say that this Australian award was the highlight of his career, eclipsing his inauguration into the American Golf Hall of Fame and his two British Open victories. Surprisingly, Norman declared that the two wins at The Open were not as significant to him as winning the Westlakes Classic – a small tournament in Adelaide – in 1976, as this first-up victory gave the then youngster his first opportunity at winning in professional golf and set him up for the career which would follow. Norman is only the second golfer after five-time British Open champion Peter Thomson to be named a Legend by Sport Australia. However, the Shark declared he had not set out to be the world&aposs best golfer. Instead, he had simply attempted to achieve his potential, a valuable lesson which he hopes he can impart to his children. “It&aposs not what you leave, it&aposs what you try to achieve. I wanted to improve myself each time I played.” “To get to the top is great but the journey is the reward.” Norman has enjoyed 20 victories on the PGA Tour and has been the PGA Tour of Australia Order of Merit Winner six times from 1978 to 1988 along with the PGA Tour player of the year in 1995.