The doors keep opening for Greg Norman, who gave a polite "no thanks" Monday to the PGA of America's special invitation into next week's PGA Championship, but told Golf World he's considering an invitation to compete in next year's Masters.
Norman, 53, qualified for a return trip to Augusta with his T-3 in the British Open at Royal Birkdale. He followed that by finishing strong in the Senior British Open, shooting 67-68 on the weekend at Royal Troon to finish T-5. He is now in Colorado preparing for the U.S. Senior Open at the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs.
With Tiger Woods out of the game, Norman's star-power is resurgent. The PGA was hoping to seize on that--and justified the invitation by noting the Shark's record jump of 480 points to 166th in the World Ranking. But a trip to suburban Detroit would have been Norman's fourth-straight week of major-championship golf, which was a determining factor in the decision.
"It was a great honor," Norman said. "I couldn't believe it when [business manager] Bart Collins told me about it at Troon. But it's the right decision with all the other things I have already in place on my schedule."
Norman, who is still honeymooning with new wife Chris Evert, has a conference call scheduled Wednesday with Collins and Jason McCoy of his golf course design team to discuss some of the offers that have come his way since the British Open. (One project already in the books was a renovation of the golf courses at Turnberry in Scotland, site of next year's Open and Norman's first Open victory in 1986.)
Norman also said he has a design trip already in the books for next April, but left the impression it was moveable. "There are several changes we're considering at the moment because of the way I played," Norman said. "A few more invitations have cropped up. I want to take stock of them and go from there."
--Tim Rosaforte
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