Norman Poised For Stardom

SYDNEY -- Greg Norman, Australia's new Open golf champion, has the ability to outperform any other Australian in world golf.

That's the opinion of David Graham, who finished third to Norman in the Open yesterday.

"He will surpass anything that I have ever done in America and will be one of the world's outstanding players," Graham said after Norman's dramatic one-shot victory.

And Graham knows what yardstick is needed to measure ability.

He is a former U.S. PGA Champion and a regular Tour winner in America where the game's standards are set.

Graham said: "He (Norman) is past the potential stage. Greg's ability has matured, and yesterday's performance was one of the finest exhibitions I have seen.

"He reminded me of Jack Nicklaus as a young man and will do more than I have in America and more than Graham Marsh has done around the world.

Norman is heading for obscurity in the next few weeks and plans to go fishing.

Yesterday's victory erased from his mind last year's final hole wipeout at Metropolitan when he failed with a two-meter putt that would have forced a playoff with Jack Newton.

"The only time I thought about last year was with the putt I had on the 16th green," Norman said. "It all came back then and I had to go for a walk to get it out of my mind."

Graham played the last round with Norman and was astonished at the distances the blond Queenslander was crashing the ball.

I was hitting 6-irons where he was hitting wedges, and you cannot give any man that sort of start," Graham said.

Graham's generous appraisal of Norman's victory comes when Norman is on the brink of his first serious move into the American scene. He will play the Crosby tournament there early in January and stay on the American tour until he returns to Melbourne to play the Victorian Open.

The confidence Graham has in Norman's ability to stand tall in America will be vindicated by this 25-year-old with the Atlas build.

The back-slapping was not all one way because Norman also had plenty of kind things to say about Graham.

"He kept telling me I was swinging great, and although he was in contention himself gave me plenty of encouragement," Norman said.

That was Norman's fourth victory this year. In Europe he has won the Scandinavian Open, the French Open and the World Match Play title, but when he won yesterday he exclaimed: "That is the one I have wanted to win all year. The personal satisfaction is enormous."

And so will be the financial rewards. The Australian Open also opens the door to the U.S. Masters and to many other areas where Norman wants to go.

Scottie Gilmour, who came from the UK to carry Norman's bag through the Australian season, will get a healthy share of the $35,000 Norman won yesterday.

The two men worked perfectly as a team, and the experience Gilmour picked up carrying bags like that of Tony Jacklin, paid off in the crisis holes yesterday.

"Scottie was great," Norman said. "Every time I got to the ball he told me how far it was to the front of the green, the flag and the back of the green. He settled me down all the way."

The only time the two men had a difference of opinion was at the last hole, and it could have been costly. Norman wanted to hit a 3-iron at the flag but Gilmour talked him into taking one club less and the 4-iron flopped into a bunker.

In hindsight it does not matter, as Norman recovered to three meters and holed the putt for par that gave him the Australian title.

Runner-up Brian Jones, who finished third in this title when Gary Player won in Perth in 1974, was bitterly disappointed. Jones declared that for once in his life he had not been nervous and was properly psyched up for yesterday's final round.

It was a marathon five hours of fierce concentration for Jones, and his anguish for letting the big prize slip through his fingers can be understood.

"I have only myself to blame, and I know Greg must feel great," he said.

Both Norman and Jones said they refused to look at the leaderboards around the course, choosing rather to concentrate on the job at hand.

Interestingly, Jones believed that Norman had made a birdie on the last hole. When he came to the final tee he had not seen Norman recover from the greenside trap, but only saw him punch the air in triumph as he holed the putt.

Jones was the tournament pacesetter for 70 of the 72 holes, and he had plenty of confidence in his ability to hang around. He so nearly did.