The Great White Shark, Greg Norman, will make his first appearance of the year on The European Tour when he tees up in the BMW Asian Open in Shanghai next week.
The two-time Open Champion is making a rare tournament appearance at Tomson Pudong Golf Club in what will be only his third event this year.
The 53 year old showed he was still a match for the current generation of top golfers when he finished equal seventh at the South African Airways Open in December on his last outing on The European Tour International Schedule. He has played twice on the US PGA Tour this year, missing the cut in both events.
Nicknamed 'The Great White Shark', Norman has won 91 professional events throughout the world and spent 331 weeks as World Number One during his peak.
Norman is the only golfer in history to be Number One on both sides of the Atlantic, winning The European Tour Order of Merit in 1982 and topping the US PGA Tour Money List in 1986, 1990 and 1995. He won the Open Championship twice, at Royal St George’s in 1993 and at Turnberry in 1986, the year where he led all four Majors into the final round, and was accorded Honorary Life Membership of The European Tour in April 2000
On his last Shanghai appearance at the 2004 BMW Asian Open, Norman was among the leaders at five under par before being disqualified in the third round for a wrong drop on Tomson Pudong's difficult par three 17th.
"I feel good about the game," said Norman. "I have tremendous amount of respect for BMW's commitment to golf worldwide and have enjoyed playing in BMW events around the world. I expect to have a good showing in Shanghai."
The Florida-based Norman, who has travelled to China many times over the years, either to play tournaments or to design golf courses, said he was very impressed with how golf was growing in the country. He singled out China's number one Liang Wen-chong as a player to watch.
"I believe China is unrivalled in producing world class athletes and golf is no exception," said Norman. "Like many countries, it requires a very strong junior development program. I think if golf were to be an Olympic sport, we would have seen greater progress, but still we have seen constant improvement from young Chinese players."
Undoubtedly influenced by fiancée, tennis legend Chris Evert, Norman is playing more tennis of late, but golf is still his number one passion.
"In the last year and a half, I have begun to play a great deal more tennis. I always have new challenges and I very much enjoy the challenge of learning this sport and improving my game," he said. "Fortunately, golf is a game you can play your entire life. While I am playing less golf, I enjoy the golf I do play. This year, I will be playing more events, focusing on the tournaments and the golf courses I enjoy.”
