Thank You Greg, I Think I'll go Hit Some Balls!

It is hard to ignore what Greg Norman did this week in the British Open. Has he quieted any of the naysayers? Absolutely not! He still succumbed to the demons but at 53 I think we can forgive him for that. Yes, it would have been nice to see him shoot the lights out and win the Open but most of us knew it was a long shot. My goodness, he still placed tied for third at 53 and that alone is quite an accomplishment.

But there are a couple of things that one could not help but observe. Norman like many golfers could not put the driver in the bag and once it again it was his Achilles heal. Rather than playing the smart shot and making sure that he had a good lie on short grass, he seemed to want to go for the big bomb par in those conditions was going to be good enough. Then after being so aggressive off the tee, he got conservative on the approach shot virtually coming up short on every hole. He his plan was to be aggressive then why not continue that way through the rest of the shots. Or better yet, if the plan was to be more conservative then why the driver? I was actually quite confused. It seemed to me that there wasn't much a game plan because he probably didn't feel that he would be in that position.

But then that makes his third place finish even more remarkable if that is true.

Norman reminds me of Michelson: You are always on the edge of your seat because with both of them, anything can happen because they play so aggressively that it doesn't seem like they really have complete control. They just rely on pure talent and unfortunately, that does not always get it. They don't have that controlled demeanor or killer instinct of a Tiger Woods. If they are on they can beat anyone but if they aren't on they are just another professional golfer. And yet that is not Tiger Woods. If he is on he is unbeatable and if he is off he is sometimes unbeatable also. And to me that is his confidence inside and his drive to win every time he tees up the ball.

Throughout the Open coverage they talked about strategy over and over again. Padraig Harrington had a plan and he stuck to it and although he had a hiccup or two along the way, he kept putting himself in position for something to happen and "happen" it did. You heard comments like "unlock the golf course"; "play smart to win"; "just putting the ball in play"; "take your eyes off the trophy and just play the shot"; "course strategy is more important that performance..."; "playing a course is like solving a riddle..."; and finally, "pressure makes it hard to execute". Not only do you need a game plan but you need it written down because under pressure it is going to be easy to get off track and staying on track is so vitally important.

Greg Norman gave us all an Open to remember. I almost forgot there were others on the course and although I know that Harrington won his second British Open in a row with a brilliant game plan, the week belonged to Greg Norman and that is going to be remembered for years to come. Again, thank you Greg, I think I will go hit some balls.