Greg Norman Should Take A Page from Yoda and DO

Greg Norman has been down this world tour path a number of times.  At this juncture, he needs to take a page from Yoda in Star Wars who said, “Do or do not. There is no try.”

In other words, it’s time for Norman to DO. He’s been at this for more than 25 years and if he wants to get something done, he needs to do it while people still know who Greg Norman is. The biggest issue now is that this isn’t the first or even the second time that Norman has proposed a special world tour.  It’s the third.  Maybe third time’s a charm for him, but maybe it’s the last gasp for what has become a tired presentation in an effort to unseat the PGA Tour’s leadership role in golf.

The mystery in it all is what does he hope to gain? Does he want control of all professional golf?  Why does he think he deserves that?

All this back and forth with the PGA Tour started with Greg Norman in the early 1990s.

After the success of the 1991 Ryder Cup, Norman apparently decided he wanted to be a part of an event like that, and he lobbied with anybody who would listen.  The PGA Tour did pay attention and created the Presidents Cup for the international players to compete in a Ryder Cup-like format against the U.S. The first event was played in September of 1994.

In that first go-around, Norman withdrew with what was described as a flu-like illness.

Two months after that first Presidents Cup, at his ShootOut event, he announced that he was starting a new tour which would be “an eight-event, $25-million tour for the top 30 players in the world.”

What kind of a slap in the face was that to the PGA Tour after they had just finished the first Presidents Cup?

Now $25 million was a lot of money in 1994.  Norman had won the Players Championship that year, and the first place money was $450,000 with a $2.5 million total payout. So, the money was attention-getting. He said he had Fox on board, and everyone knew that he knew fellow Aussie, Rupert Murdoch of Fox/ News Corp., so it was believable.

The PGA Tour commissioner, Tim Finchem, got Arnold Palmer to remind players where their allegiance should be.  Palmer, like Jack Nicklaus, was there at the beginning of the Tour when raising sponsor money and getting television coverage was difficult.  Nobody went against Arnold Palmer. Nobody.

However, what the PGA Tour did a few years later was to respond again to Norman’s idea, and in 1997, it created the World Golf Championships, which ended up irritating Norman to no end. So, then he was mad because the Tour told players not to join his new tour and mad again because they created the World Golf Championships.

So, after Norman was unsuccessful with version one and version two of his world concept, here we are with round three.

Shortly after the Tour’s announcement of the WGCs, Norman announced his world tour for the second time. He promised 200 players, 40 events, and $200 million in money. It was a totally competing tour with so many events that players would have to pick one or the other.  Again, Rupert Murdoch was mentioned.

Commissioner Finchem had to put his foot down and say that anyone who joined would no longer be able to play the PGA Tour.  But it didn’t take a genius to see that.  Nobody could play anything close to 40 events and also play the PGA Tour.

Once again, Norman’s world tour failed to materialize.

So, after Norman was unsuccessful with version one and version two of his world concept, here we are with round three.  Promises of money, a shortened schedule, and team tournaments have been made.  But so far nothing concrete has been announced to the public or most players.

Now Jack Nicklaus has come out against this version of the world tour. He said, simply, “Why would I support that?”

So, if Greg Norman wants people to really believe him this time, he needs to get things rolling. It’s time for him to sign up host clubs, present a schedule, organize the TV coverage and release dates, and sell sponsorships.  If he has team owners, it’s time to say who they are. If he really believes in this venture, he needs to start it with those who are willing and see if anyone else wants to join later.  Players like Lee Westwood, Adam Scott, and Ian Poulter may still want to join him. That’s their choice.

But based on the past, it’s hard to believe Greg Norman will get beyond the talking stage because up to now, he hasn’t done anything but talk and complain about how the PGA Tour has taken his ideas.  The bigger question should be, why didn’t he do them? If he wants to be believed, he needs to forget all the talking and finger-pointing and, as Yoda said, DO.