Each week, Greg Norman will answer some frequently
asked questions submitted by media outlets and Shark.com readers. Due to the abundance of e-mail,
he is unable to answer every question, but will tackle as many as possible.
Submit your question here!
Australian golfers have been making an impact on the PGA Tour for years, but there are more good young Australian golfers on the tour now than ever before. In fact, other than the United States, Australia has more PGA Tour players per capita than any other country in the world. In this edition of Ask Greg, The Shark talks about the rise of the sport in Australia, as well as, the current crop of Aussie golfers, 12 of which are ranked in the Top 100 of the World Golf Rankings.
| Q. Is the current crop of Australian golfers the strongest you have witnessed? | A. The depth of talent in Australia right now is by far the best it has been in its history. With a population roughly one 10th that of the United States, it's amazing to me that nearly 10 percent of the U.S. Open field was comprised of Aussies. And there were nearly two dozen in the Open Championship this year. That's just tremendous. I wouldn't be at all surprised if there was a run of Australians winning majors in the next 5-10 years. |
| Q. How can the Australian tour attract the game's leading players? | A. Unfortunately appearance money, and the amount needed to entice the upper echelon of players would be exorbitant and it would suffocate any of the local Australian tournament budgets, creating a loosing proposition financially. The reason why the top players would not make the journey is simple. The PGA Tour is enticing foreign players to come and play on the U.S. Tour by providing for them tremendous prize money week in and week out. Players are independent contractors, so they have every right to go and play where they think they can earn the best living. And when you're throwing the amount of money at the players that the PGA Tour does, you can't blame anyone for wanting to play there. But there is a residual effect that hurts the rest of the tours, be it Australia, Japan, South Africa or Europe because you need the top players to support the sponsors and you need the sponsors to support golf. I think it is incumbent on the PGA Tour to reach out and help support those other tours, whenever and however possible, but I do not seeing that happening. Commissioner Finchem has done his job over the recent years by building the U.S. Tour to its present level of prize money, and with the ease of travel and quality of lifestyle you cannot blame the players for choosing the U.S. as the base to perform as a professional and reap the rewards of maximum dollars for their efforts. But, it shouldn't be at the detriment of golf on a global basis, and I think it has had a negative effect, particularly in Australia. |
| Q. What is the best venue for the Australian Open? | A. I'd have to say Royal Melbourne, one of my favorite courses and arguably Australia's best. It has the infrastructure, practice facility and is great for the galleries. Not too many of our great courses have in Australia have this, because of their proximity to the center of our major cities. |
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