Newsmakers 2007: Jilted
November 23, 2007
There was no shortage of relationships that didn't make it to year's end. Tied for most time in the spotlight were the well-documented student-teacher breakup of Rick Smith and Phil Mickelson and the increasingly public (and contentious) split between Greg and Laura Andrassy Norman, the Shark's wife of 25 years. En route to finalizing a divorce settlement estimated at $100 million, the Normans struggled to agree on everything from dollars to depositions, including Andrassy's late-year bid to have her ex's new girlfriend, Chris Evert, testify about travel on Norman's private plane. Tiger Woods didn't dump Hank Haney (although it was speculated he did), but he did say so long to American Express on his way to a Gatorade deal (as AmEx headed for a partnership with the PGA of America). Fresno was left out in the cold when bankruptcy stalled the building of Running Horse G&CC, the course that was to have hosted a new Fall Series event. Jack Vickers and the PGA Tour also went separate ways. Vickers' annual Stableford shootout outside Denver was pulled from the schedule early in the year when dates, a lack of sponsorship and, above all, no prospect of having Woods in the field, conspired to end the popular event. Even Vijay Singh and trainer/caddie Joey Diovisalvi didn't make it through the year as a team. The latter left the grind of the tour to begin a biomechanics program at the PGA Tour Academy at TPC Sawgrass.
- Keywords:
- newsmakers 2007,
- Jilted,
- Tim Murphy
