WGC NEC INVITATIONAL

August 25, 1999

Greg Norman

GREG NORMAN: I personally think of all the golf courses we play on the PGA TOUR, this is the closest one to a U.S. Open setup. It's a got the length, the narrowness of the fairways. It's got heavy rough. It's got precise iron play. And I think of all the ones I enjoy playing, this is one of my top, top ones. We've seen conditions over the years of the golf course not being the best. But I think we all enjoy coming back here because of the pure layout of Firestone Country Club. I haven't seen the course yet, but I'm sure it's not going to be any different than what it's been in the last couple years, and I'm sure it will be great.

GREG NORMAN: Not at all. We're probably glad we're not involved in the shuffle. I think what's -- the difference, in comparison with what I've read in the media and the newspapers, is the Presidents Cup was structured in such a way where the profits went to the players, and the players then just obviously handed it on to their respective charities. I see that as the difference. Presidents Cup is a thought that took place probably six or seven years ago between myself and Tim Finchem. If we couldn't play on the Ryder Cup Team, maybe we should look at playing the rest of the world against the winner of the Ryder Cup. That was the initial thought -- to incentivize the international players that don't have a chance to play on a team competition. The international players who play to a high level of the game right now -- the Els, Price, myself, Elkingtons -- we've never had that opportunity. We've had the World Cup and the Dunhill Cup. But to play a format like the Ryder Cup, a true head-to-head battle comparing all the emotions, mental energies that's drained, through the four or five weeks leading up, we wanted to feel that ourselves. So the when the structure of Presidents Cup came along, I guess there was a lot more forethought. There wasn't the lineage of time that created where the Ryder Cup is right now. Remember, the PGA of America probably lost a lot of money in the early years with the Ryder Cup. Now they are making some money; so therefore, people are opening their eyes up and want to know where it's all going. They see the Presidents Cup; they see that we've got $100,000 a piece to give to our respective charities. You can see from a players's perspective to be asking the questions that they are asking. Because of the players that play on the Presidents Cup, compared to the Ryder Cup, in their mind has a lot more image and history and feel about it from the Americans' point of view, because it's got the tradition to it. They can see they are getting only -- what is it? A $5,000 -- whatever they are getting. I don't even know the true number. We get that, plus $100,000. And we they think maybe should get that, and plus a little more for the Ryder Cup. I can understand that. I'm glad I'm not involved with it. But I'm just telling you what I'm seeing through newspapers and magazines.

GREG NORMAN: My reaction to some comment like that is, first of all, A, is you take it with a grain of salt, because you don't know whether it was a factual comment. B, you look at it from the pure fact that myself, personally, if I got an opportunity of playing for my flag -- and again, you've got to understand, the International Team, we don't play for the Stars and Stripes. European Team, they don't play for, you know, the Union Jack or the Spanish flag. They play for a conglomerate of flags. But when you can play for your country, if I can play just purely for Australia, no matter what sport that I'm represented in, that would be just a huge honor for me. I don't see it as clutter. I can only see it as betterment of the game. Clutter comes from cluttering up your schedule by playing tournaments for appearance money and playing in exhibition matches. That, to me, is clutter. When you've got something that -- the short-term history of the Presidents Cup or the future, long-term history that will be created through the Presidents Cup, and the good the Presidents Cup does for respective charities, giving away -- what is it? $2.3 million for charity for one event. That's 24 players plus the captains, maybe 2.6, 2.9. I don't call that clutter. I think it's good for the image of golf on a global basis. I think the terminology of the word is the wrong choice.

GREG NORMAN: That was my initial suggestion. That's how it should have been. Don't forget, you've got the Europeans and the Americans and the rest of the world, that's a pretty formidable force. And I think there will be a fairly good balance between having that and the winner playing the winner. You can do a rotation system like that. I thought that would work very, very well. I don't see that ever changing right now. I see the original -- since the inception of the Presidents Cup and the Ryder Cup -- I don't see it flipping back to where the International Team plays the winner of the Ryder Cup. It's too well established now.

GREG NORMAN: I personally haven't spoken to Tim about it. I know Bob Collins was up there Tuesday in Jacksonville. I haven't got a full brief on it yet. I haven't spoken to him. I know Andrew was asking me this question last week. I will not be playing my full 12. But I did have -- I did send letters out to the PGA TOUR, and my doctor sent letters to the PGA TOUR at the start of this year saying that I wasn't going to play a full schedule because he didn't know what the reaction of my shoulder would be at the end of the season. I'm going to Vail for two to three days of work with Dr. Steadman the week after next. So I'll be there. He's going to give an evaluation of the shoulder. I haven't seen him since -- when was the last time -- more than a year. So now he's going to give an evaluation. If he gives me a clean bill of health, I might just pop in a couple more and go play. But I knew I couldn't go and play 20, 22, 23 tournaments this year. That was my outset and basically the direction I took right from the beginning of the year.

GREG NORMAN: It depends on what happens the week after next. You know, I feel pretty strong in my shoulder. I feel like I've got a lot of mobility in my shoulder. At times, where I don't practice for a couple of days, I feel like it gets tight again. Cold, damp, rainy weather doesn't do it any good. I need to give a bit more evaluation on how to go about it. Maybe there's a new exercise program after 12 months that I might have to get back on.

GREG NORMAN: If I'm denied a medical exemption, I think I'm allowed to play about ten or eleven. Maybe five or seven exemptions, plus the majors. So, you know, I'll just play the schedule and go play elsewhere if I wanted to play. I've got enough work going on in other parts of the world where, if I couldn't play the number of tournaments that I would like to play here in the United States, then I'll obviously look elsewhere.

GREG NORMAN: Totally, I would be very happy playing with about 18 to 20 tournaments next year. That's 15, if I need to play the necessary 15. If I don't have the medical exemption, then I'll play my 11 or 10 or 8, or whatever it is I need to play here, and then go play. But I wouldn't like to see that happen, because I wouldn't like to see it where I went to play my X number of exemptions where I'm allowed to play, invitations, and I wanted to play in one later on in the year, and they said: Sorry, you couldn't play. That might be a little embarrassing for all of us.

GREG NORMAN: I can only speak for my personal experience. I've turned down exhibitions like that. I had a chance of playing against Tiger when he first came out on the TOUR, and I opted not to, because I had -- I just think that there was -- again, this is my opinion. There was enough talk about how the players are and how greedy they are, playing for a $1 million for a first prize and 400,000 second prize. When you really look into it all, there was a lot more to it than that. I thought the players got a very, very bad deal. I thought the players weren't greedy and got the minor share of the takings. So for the image of those two players, Tiger and David got out of that whole exhibition match was unfair on them, because it's a not a true reflection on who actually made the most amount on that deal. The players are obviously invited to this because of their stature in the game of golf. They make the decision on what they can fit in their schedule. Going back to that word "clutter," it's up to the player whether he wants to clutter up his schedule or not. That's a situation where they felt like it was good for the game in their mind. That's why they did it. But I just feel that, not all of the media reports -- some of the media reports called these guys greedy. And I don't think they are were greedy at all because of how much money they were playing for. A million-dollar first prize; what was it, $400,000 second prize? So from a player standpoint, I don't think it's cluttering it up, because you make your own choice. If I was going to clutter up my schedule, I would be doing all that, doing exhibitions, playing my 15 tournaments, traveling down to Australia and end up being exhausted at the end of the year. That, to me, is clutter. Plus all the outings you've got to do throughout the year for your respective companies.

GREG NORMAN: Sometimes it's great to keep coming back to the same place. Augusta National, I feel that way about that tournament. Going back to old territory, good memories, bad memories. Firestone is the same. You come back to good memories, bad memories. I enjoy this golf course. I think that over the decades of tournaments being held here, they have supported the game of golf very, very highly here in this part of the world, even when the economy hasn't been great in this part of the world. I think a lot has to be taken into consideration. I'm not the one who makes the judgment call of it. But I'm just saying that I would like to see tournaments have a home, because they build up tradition and history and you can compare yourself to who did what 20 years ago, and your name is on the map.

GREG NORMAN: We don't have enough time. (Laughing.) I'm sure everybody has got their own personal views. I do. But I don't think we need to open up that file.

GREG NORMAN: My wife has brought that up to me a couple times at a few tournaments in the past. She said: I think you're the oldest player in the field. Okay, well, that's a good news/bad news situation. The good news is that my strength of play has stood the test of time, the fact that you can stand up with these 19-year-olds now. I guess Tiger is getting over the hill at 23. But 19-year-olds coming out and doing the things they are doing. But that just shows you what you can do in the game. Whether you are 19 or 44 or 70, like Arnold Palmer, playing to this day, the game of golf allows you to do that. And that's the beautiful part about it. I said that the strength of a person's character is built over a period in this game. It's not built over one, two, or five years. There's a lot more to just playing the game, and how you handle it when you do. The only test is being out here as long as possible. So to say I'm the oldest one in the field, I guess I feel pretty good about it.

GREG NORMAN: In a way, this is kind of it. But I will miss it, because there's certain things about when you won, coming here and going to La Costa; that was a caveat for your performance in a given week. And there was always that incentive in the back of your mind: Boy, this is my schedule. I know I can play well at these golf courses. If I can do this, then I can put in this tournament here. And when I used to do my schedule, I always used to do it: I'm going to play these 13 tournaments on the assumption I can play La Costa and Firestone. And if you don't win, you had to jack up two tournaments to get 15. That's the way I did it. I had a strong incentive with the way I did my schedule. So make sure I played well enough to get in it.

GREG NORMAN: Not at all. I define it from the moment -- I had an opportunity. I had a fairly easy chip. I remember the chip very well. I was in such a focus at the moment, there was -- I can still remember the spike marks sticking up that I wanted the ball to run over, which was the apex of my chip. And that was about 15 feet out from the hole. I went in and hit that, and that's when I knew I had chipped it in. I can remember that so vividly. I can even take you to the spot where I was. Not thinking about what happened, who chipped in against you at the time and payback or whatever, you don't think about stuff like that, because the people who did it to you weren't on the receiving end when you did it to somebody else. It's just a matter of executing, do your job, and playing the best shot you possibly can at a given time.

GREG NORMAN: I definitely feel that way. I think the players now in the immediate future, the Ryder Cup, now that all of the majors are over and done with, they are definitely gearing for that. Because four weeks goes by very, very quickly. I imagine a lot of guys on the European Ryder Cup team, it will be their last event before they head out to Europe and come back. They want to leave America leaving the statement that we made -- and yet there might be some who say: I don't really want to get too far in tune four weeks out. But I definitely believe the players, as competitive as what they are, definitely will be going in with that attitude.

GREG NORMAN: I haven't seen them.

GREG NORMAN: I haven't seen the pairings.

GREG NORMAN: Has it been automatic pairings or they say they want to put --

GREG NORMAN: They try to split it up.

GREG NORMAN: No, I'm not going there. (Laughing.)

GREG NORMAN: The thing that really sticks in the forefront of my mind is the team spirit that we had. We worked extremely hard for two years. Remember, we had all that debacle and rhetoric running around about the allegations of who ousted who at the Presidents Cup many years ago, the captaincy. And we all knew the exact truth of how that all took place, and the interpretation was incorrect. At the end of the day it was starting to spill out on the players. So the players started talking within ourselves, the practice rounds. For two years, we started talking about gelling this thing together as a team. We don't play under one flag, but we play together as an united front against a very, very strong, powerful American team. So we started our team spirit way back then. So nothing was going to interject in that. We were going to get into our zone. We had this university city. All of us worked very hard with the captain on who we thought should be the selections. Peter Thomson was very, very close with us. So by the time we got our team nailed down, we already had a huge amount of team spirit and enthusiasm. So when we went down to Australia, there was no way we were going to get beaten. We were relaxed. There were no outside agencies, like this Ryder Cup, maybe the internal turmoil running within certain players within the team. Our team was very, very unified and I think that was a big plus. I think when I look at team sports, that's the most important thing, and the most crucial thing for the captain to do is get the guys feeling good about everybody. I've seen it in the NFL, the NBA, other sports, individuality is not good for team sports and I think that comes down to the coach and the captain to gel all those people together. So from the Ryder Cup's point of view, I've seen that happen with the Europeans. And they were down and out, the team -- Seve did a wonderful job with them, inspiring them, talking to them. That's his nature. He's got that matadorial spirit. Mark James is doing that since he was elected as captain. I've seen him and just heard little snippets on the driving range from the players on how they are all getting together. So team work -- Ben Crenshaw started it on the PGA, and I think that's the key to it.

GREG NORMAN: Every captain is going to put his stamp on it. I remember Peter Thomson saying the hardest part of his job was picking two choices. You can go down and say: I want 13 or 14 and just get out the easy way. Or you can be like Mark James and people are always going to critique him and say: Why did you pick him, why did you pick him. But at the end of the day, that's the captain's decision. That's the hardest decision he's got to make because he knows he's got to kick off two three or four guys because they had the expectation of getting in. You are going to go in and say this is my decision, and we're going to go in and win on these terms and let's go. But I remember talking to Peter Thomson on a site visit one time at a course in Melbourne, and he anguished over it. He was already gray, but he was turning gray trying to decide what to do. But that's got to be a tough one.

GREG NORMAN: This tournament year? Here? I definitely think it's the carrot out there on the end of the stick. You've got to give a little bit back to these guys. PGA TOUR probably recognized that to some degree. We touched on the question before about how do I feel about this not being just the winner. I personally like it where it's just the winners. That can incentivize you to go play. The incentive to play on the Ryder Cup or the Presidents Cup team is a great incentive because you're playing for your country, a different format, different feel; you're playing with your buddies. I don't see anything wrong with team sport. The hardest thing being in a team sport is the guy missing a 4-footer to lose for the team. Everything else in the week is going to be a great week. That's the way I feel about it. I don't think Michael Jordan went to play in the Olympics for a specified amount. I think he went there because he was playing for the Stars and Stripes and the same with all the guys who represent whatever team in any sport. But I personally like this as the winners coming back here.

GREG NORMAN: Prestige, maybe. Tradition, not. Because tradition only comes from the characters of the players who have performed on the stage. And you can go back and think of some wonderful matches and wonderful comebacks that only compare over a period. Prestige, you can almost create. But when the tradition and the history of the game -- however long it takes a Presidents Cup to get to where the Ryder Cup is now, the Ryder Cup is going to be that much further ahead. So it's going to be very, very difficult for the Presidents Cup to catch up with stature and tradition and history to the Ryder Cup.

GREG NORMAN: No, I will not.

GREG NORMAN: No, I don't think so. Where is he from?

GREG NORMAN: He might on one off-week, but I can remember my caddies who caddie on a consistent basis. He might have done it on an one off-week somewhere, but as I say, I don't remember. (Laughing) "You did a great job that week -- what week was that." (Laughing).

GREG NORMAN: I don't put a whole lot of stock there because match play is a totally different format. It depends on your mentality on each given match. Mentality comes into consideration of how you feel about the individual playing: Is he your best friend is he your worst enemy. Did you like his demeanor on the golf course. Do you not like his demeanor on the golf course. Those kind of things affect you on how you play head-to-head. And match play, in the Ryder Cup format and the Presidents Cup format, is probably the height of tension. Whereas, when you're playing in a tournament, you're only playing for the victory of the check, the prize money of that event. But when you're playing match play in a team event, you've got 11 other guys riding on you. If you're the last guy coming down the last hole straight head-to-head, and you've got to make it, nobody in this room or no public person who follows the game of golf could ever understand what goes through that person's stomach, mind, adrenaline, the nerves, nerve endings. It's gut-wrenching. So you've got to be able to pick a guy that can handle that situation through past experience, and that doesn't necessarily mean that because he won a few tournaments in the match play event that he is going to be able to handle it in the Ryder Cup. There's very few guys that can do it. I mean, I only touched on a very small piece of it myself in the Presidents Cup. But I would hate to be that guy coming down and having to make that shot and having to do it. You'd better be locked in on your task at hand.

GREG NORMAN: You know, even if you wanted to think about who is the best putter in the world, you don't know how their reaction is going to be at the given time. No matter how great a putter you are, you only have to just his time it by a fraction and you're done. I'm trying to think it while I'm answering, leading up to the answer of your question. Probably somebody with -- who is A, got the experience, to know how your body reacts; that would be a veteran like a Hale Irwin or a Jack Nicklaus, somebody who has been there and done it enough times to experience it. And on the other end of the scale, I go to a young kid who just wants to ram it right in the back. Let me get this job over and done with and go have a beer with the boys. He doesn't know anything different. So somebody really young, or somebody really experienced. Look at Sergio, total class act from a kid who is 19 years old. A wonderful new wave of energy coming into the game of golf through him. You've got Tiger who has got the ability. Got the skills to do it. He's got youth on his side and he's developed a little bit more experience. He's got probably got the perfect marriage between standing out there and doing it. But from the older aspects, you start looking in the Ryder Cup players. Who is on the U.S. Ryder Cup team? Davis Love? O'Meara? He has got the ability to do because of the stroke he's got, the tempo of his stroke. I don't think anybody would want the job, but I think everybody would jump at the chance and say just give me that chance to do it. If I do it, I do it, I don't, I don't.

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