AUGUSTA, Ga. – Ever since the emergence of LIV Golf, Rory McIlroy and Greg Norman have been diametrically opposed in their view of professional golf.
McIlroy served as the PGA Tour’s unofficial spokesman while Norman joined the Saudi payroll as LIV CEO with an unlimited budget to make his longtime dream of a new world order for golf a reality. They butted heads making headlines through a war of words, with McIlroy famously declaring that “Greg must go,” and throwing shade on Norman when he won the 2022 RBC Canadian Open for his 21st Tour title, or as he put it, “one more than someone else.” But when it comes to the majors and the Masters in particular, McIlroy might look in a mirror and see Norman’s sad reflection.
While McIlroy’s major total of four majors by age 25 is twice the haul that Norman collected, Norman was the dominant player of his era and shoulda-coulda-woulda won seven or eight majors. He dominated the game as the best driver of his generation much like McIlroy. The one major his game was designed for was supposed to be Augusta National. As the years passed by and Norman experienced his share of heartbreaking misses, he faced the inevitable question of how does he not win? Whenever McIlroy shows up at Augusta now, he faces the same relentless questioning in the lead up to April.
Both also endured their career low points at the Masters – Norman blowing a six-stroke lead heading into the final round in 1996 and McIlroy shooting 80 to squander the 54-hole lead in 2011. Both ended with the loser needing a hug – Norman from Nick Faldo, who lapped him with a 67to win the title and McIlroy from CBS’s Peter Kostis before he gave a heartfelt interview.
“Greg in 1996 was hard to watch,” said Butch Harmon, Norman’s coach at the time. “That was the longest day I’ve ever spent on a golf course. But it’s a cruel game and it will get you.”
As McIlroy attempts to complete the career Grand Slam for a 10th time this week and end a major-less streak nearing a decade in length, he’s facing his Norman complex by turning to, of all people, Norman’s old coach. He went to see Harmon in Las Vegas two weeks ago for a lesson.
“Rory wants it so badly that he can’t get out of his own way,” Harmon said. “I was trying to help him to relax, don’t be so aggressive in the first round. Just go shoot 70, put yourself in the mix and see what happens. He gets so amped up here because it’s the last one he hasn’t won. He…
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