Australian PGA Championship, Young Gun Daniel Popovic Leads

Daniel Popovic

Young Gun Daniel Popovic leads the Australian PGA Championship after the opening round  at the Palmer Coolum Resort course, with a blistering first round of -8 under par 64. Daniel leads by two strokes from Scott Strange who finished with -6 under par 66. Daniel earned his playing privileges by winning the 2012 PGA of Australasia qualifying school, and is playing with his father in mind. Radi, Daniel’s father who introduced Daniel to golf, was diagnosed with leukaemia earlier this year, but has insisted his son play in this event. Daniel spoke of his father’s condition;

” My father found out that he has cancer earlier on in the year and it really shook me around a lot and it still sort of does when I think about it. But I find a lot of strength in him with how he’s fighting that and how he really wants me to push forward with my golf and find happiness through him. It’s called multiple myeloma, it’s leukaemia in his bones and it’s one that’s unable to cure. It is a slow growing cancer. I mean you’re unsure of when the actual day will come but he is a strong man and a very stubborn man so I think he’ll be here for a little while longer.”

Daniel was very proud of his round today anf thinks his parents will be too;

“My mum and dad will be over the moon. My dad will be in tears and so will my mum. They are very sensitive people, my mum would have been balling her eyes out all day. ”I want to think of tomorrow as a new day, I want to go out there and play every shot on its merit … and I think if I hit it as good as I have done in the last two months it’s going to be pretty hard for me to shoot a bad score. I’m standing over it this week thinking they’re all going in. I’ve never felt this confident over a putter in my life.”

A practice round with Geoff Ogilvy on Tuesday has proved to be invaluable, a phone call from a friend set up the game;

“I played with him on Tuesday, my good friend Ryan Lynch, his father, Dale, coaches Geoff , and he called me up on Monday night and he said ‘hey mate I’m going to be playing with Geoff tomorrow morning, do you want to come on down?’  I couldn’t pass up the opportunity and I came here super early at quarter-to-six in the morning and played 18 holes with him and it was one of the best experiences of my life. He was so nice and so down to earth and gave me so much advice , it was like I’d known him for five years.”

I wonder if Geoff is thinking he may have given out too much good advice to Daniel, now that he is playing catch up in the second round of this tournament. Geoff  is tied in third place, three shots adrift of the leader,  after he and  Zhang Xin Jun from China, and Tze-huang Choo  from Singapore had opening rounds of -5 under par 67.

Dramatically,  Greg  Norman was forced to withdraw from the tournament after just two holes due to illness. He started his round  at the 10th hole at 7.00 a.m.  local time, Greg battled to consecutive bogeys before shaking hands with playing partners Stuart Appleby and Jake Higginbottom on the 11th green.

PGA of Australia CEO Brian Thorburn said;

“Greg Norman has been diagnosed with food poisoning and has been attended to by Dr. Barry Whelan at Mt. Coolum Medical Centre, who spent the morning with him and treated Greg’s symptoms with appropriate medication. Dr. Whelan expects Greg to make a full recovery and has advised Greg to rest in his room in the meantime. While we’re obviously disappointed for the fans who love to see Greg play in Australia, we wish Greg a speedy recovery.”

Get well soon Greg

 

Greg Norman tries to Explain the Rory Intimidator comments.

Tiger Woods and Greg Norman probably won’t be playing golf together                              anytime soon. (Getty Images)

The recent comments by Greg Norman that Tiger Woods is now intimidated by Rory McIlroy, brought a backlash of vitriol in his direction. Most criticizers were  saying he didn’t know what he was talking about and that he had no right to speak on such an issue. The real questions boils down to, Is Tiger intimidated by Rory?  Has Tiger ever been intimidated by anyone?  and then explain why the two of them have become such good friends in such a short amount of time?

In order to try and cool the situation around his Tiger comments, Greg posted on his Facebook Page;

” Got off the plane from Beijing this morning and my Iphone just blew up with emails and voicemails regarding my interview with Robert Lusetich of Fox Sports. It seems that everyone from Charles Barkley (no Charles I was not referencing or comparing Tiger’s record to mine) to John Doe has weighed in on my quote regarding intimidation. I stand by my comments and for those that choose to read the full article and not just “grasp” and “react” to one word will notice that the headline and byline were inconsistent with the content of what Robert wrote. When you look at my comments in the full context of the article, you will see that it provides a more balanced view of my sentiments on this topic. Which is, since the PGA Championship Tiger has not made any impact on the weekend in passing Rory for the title. This has not happened in his career prior to this run by Rory. During the PGA Championship broadcast I spoke at length about Tiger and I maintain that no one has swung the club better in the history of the game, especially during the year 2000. At the end of the day, Tiger is a great athlete and a great student of the game and he will continue to win, but we are seeing a transition away from his dominance. Rivalry and parity is great for the game of golf. Unfortunately for Rory, I think that the trademark for “The Intimidator” is already registered with Dale Earnhardt.”

It would appear that Greg has taken two steps back from his original stance on Tiger, and is trying to back pedal from what he said while at the same time maintaining that Rory currently has a better grasp of the game than Tiger, which is likely true.

Greg should not have come up with the intimidation comment, seeing that he was intimidated, and completely rolled over for Nick Faldo, as he  won his third Masters championship. Greg threw away a six shot lead on the final day at Augusta in 1996, he was totally intimidated by Nick Faldo. Perhaps that makes Greg an expert on this subject, he has experienced it so many times, his record of only 2 Major wins will always be tainted because he should have won at least 10.

Greg Norman returning to Turnberry.

Greg Norman (Getty Images)

Greg Norman is set to experience a sentimental return to the scene of his career defining first Major Championship victory, he has  confirmed that he will play in The Senior Open Championship  at Turnberry, a tournament presented by Rolex.

Greg famously finished five shots clear of English Ryder Cup player Gordon J Brand over the famous Ailsa Course to win The 1986 Open Championship. That win cemented the Shark’s place in golfing history, as he then went on to occupy the World number one spot for 331 weeks,  and also claim a second Claret Jug at Royal St George’s in 1993. Turnberry will always hold a special place in Greg’s heart and he is really happy to have the opportunity to return to the renowned Scottish links next month. The now 57-year-old Greg Norman will also renew his acquaintance with fellow Turnberry champion Tom Watson, who is also in the field for the 26^th  Senior Open Championship.

Greg spoke about returning to the scene of his first Major triumph;

 “I’m really looking forward to returning to Turnberry for this summer’s  Senior Open. I’m sure once I arrive the memories will come flooding back.  Turnberry will always be special to me as that is where I won my first Major Championship. But aside from my victory, there is also some great history at Turnberry. It produced the “Duel in the Sun” between Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus in 1977.  That finish where Watson pulled out the victory will not soon be forgotten.  So this place produces some dramatic golf and provides a great venue for both The Open Championship and The Senior Open Championship.”

The  ‘Great White Shark’  still has some vivid recollections of how he captured that  first Claret Jug;

“It really was a special time, I will never forget that victory and the events of that week.   I vividly remember sitting in the restaurant at the Turnberry Hotel on Saturday night when Jack Nicklaus came over and pulled up a chair.  Jack gave me a tip that night on grip pressure.  He said;

” Concentrate on the pressure of your grip, and that will orchestrate your tempo.  Everything should fall in place.”

“I took that tip to heart and the next day I really did play well.  I had a five shot lead walking down the eighteenth hole and when some of the fans formed a traditional rugby scrum in the middle of the 18^th fairway, I knew I had won my first major golf tournament.”