Ian Lenton - Latest Comments

Bajasurfer [Visitor] in response to: What does Greg Norman have to do to lose the choker tag?

Bajasurfer [Visitor] — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 07:51:44 +0000

Greg Norman is no longer the Shark but the undisputed Boss of the Loss.

Mike [Visitor] in response to: Golfing on or off Phuket Island.

Mike [Visitor] — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 11:17:33 +0000

Although I agree with the less hectic atmosphere at Thai Muang, my favourite remains the Blue Canyon course. Earlier this year, Harry Scott did join me and my two friends for a few days of wonderful golfing, which also included the new Red Mountain course. As for the Thai caddies, they are all sweeties :-)

Dave [Visitor] in response to: What does Greg Norman have to do to lose the choker tag?

Dave [Visitor] — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 17:56:04 +0000

You're kidding, right? "Just because he let a few winning margins slip by"? You mean the way E.J. Smith let a few iceberg warnings SLIP BY?

Greg Norman is known as a choker because he led the Masters by six strokes on Sunday, and lost it by four. That's called a choke, me bucko, and there ain't a thing you can say to make it anything different. And he's remembered for it because it was so... well... MEMORABLE.

Tony Mitchell [Visitor] in response to: What does Greg Norman have to do to lose the choker tag?

Tony Mitchell [Visitor] — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 07:16:21 +0000

Greg Norman may or may not deserve to be remembered as a choker but he should go down as the most talented golfer to only win two major championships. No other golfer in the history of the game "snatched defeat from the jaws of victory" as often or in so many ways as he managed to do.
He is the only player to have ever lost all four major championships in play-offs - the 1984 U.S. Open, the 1987 Masters, the 1989 British Open and the 1993 U.S. PGA. He is the only player ever to lead all four major championships after 54 holes in the same year and he went on to win only one of those. Now, these achievements don't necessarily make him a choker but we need to ask why his record in major championships (the events by which great players are judged) was so poor.
To use the argument that he was "robbed" by freak shots is both inaccurate and unfair. This happened only two times and only after Norman was unable to deliver the "killer blow" on both occasions.
In the 1986 U.S. PGA Norman blew a 4 shot lead going into the back nine and was tied with Bob Tway going down the 18th. Tway drove into the rough and did well to make the greenside bunker while Norman, with only a wedge from a perfect lie on the fairway (after his ball had landed in the rough and "luckily" bounced out) managed to spin his ball off the green and into the thick greenside rough. Any decent player would have, at the very least, put his ball reasonably close to the hole but he couldn't. This took all the pressure off Tway who then only needed a par to tie and his ball went in. Sure, it was a lucky shot but Payne Stewart did exactly the same thing about half an hour earlier.
In the 1987 Masters we all remember Larry Mize's terrible 5-iron approach to the 11th green. After a shot like that he deserved to be beaten but again, from the middle of the fairway and this time with an 8-iron Norman could only manage to put his ball 40 feet below the hole. Mize now only needed to get the ball close and we all know what happened. Norman seemed unable to deal with these situations, unable to go in for the kill. Instead, he seemed to take things easy and in the end he stuffed up.
In the 1989 British Open Norman began the final round with an incredible 6 straight birdies and got himself into a 4 hole play-off with Mark Calcavecchia and Wayne Grady. Norman was tied with Calcavecchia coming to the 18th and saw the American carve his tee shot into the long rough. Norman then inexplicably hit his driver down the short hole and found a deep pot bunker some 300 yards away. Even the Australian television commentators were aghast at the idiocy of hitting such a pointless shot. Again, as with Mize and Tway, Calcavecchia had all the pressure taken away and he hit a fantastic shot from the rough to about 6 feet.
Norman seemed incapable of analysing a situation even though he was a three time winner of the World Matchplay title. When it came to pressure situations his thinking seemed to go out the window. Is this choking, bad decision-making or just bad luck?
What happened to him at the 1996 Masters? It should have been a Norman procession to a wonderful and deserved victory but right from the beginning of the final round he played poorly and nervously. Why? Was it because he was paired with Nick Faldo? Was the sense of occasion too much for him? We will never really know but to squander a record 6 shot lead and shoot a 78 after shooting an opening round 63 is not the sort of thing a champion golfer would do.
By my reckoning Norman should have recorded at least 6 major championship victories, possibly even 9, which would have ranked him alongside some of the greats of golf, including Faldo, Ballesteros and Watson. Instead, he will be remembered only as a prolific international winner but with a major championship record equal to that of Andy North and Bernhard Langer.

robert chrystall [Visitor] in response to: LPGA is awesome viewing

robert chrystall [Visitor] — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 12:55:00 +0000

The Ladies pga is indeed wonderful viewing but the mesn PGA tour events including the maters have such CRAP coverage, I ran my stop watch during thr John deere classic and over 2 hours , there was onyl 23 minutes of actual golf televised. During tennis coverage , say flushing meadows , veiwers see ALL the play but alas at us pga golf viewers see almost no golf, I dont bother now and even the highlights are crap , all score boards trees water blimp ryder cup everything but golfers making swings. Ive wrtten heaps of letters but never a reply. AND you say , well u cant change anything ? bUT the British open is televised SOO bloody marvelously , ITS ALL golf all golfers making golf swings , golf u know golf ?? so i only watch euro tour golf , THE americans cant do anything right.
i have tried to get BILL Macatees email so i can relate this imminent disaster to him VERY soon there will be no viewers

Fawad [Visitor] in response to: What does Greg Norman have to do to lose the choker tag?

Fawad [Visitor] — Wed, 19 Jul 2006 19:49:14 +0000

All Greg Norman needs in One Win, afer that he would have chance to win the majors.

Pepsi [Visitor] in response to: What's it really like living on a golf course?

Pepsi [Visitor] — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 05:03:45 +0000

I live ON a golf course.

At night when the greenkeepers have gone home I climb over the razor wire topped fence, pull my hammock from its hiding place in the trees and climb in to dream of times when I will be able to afford my own shanty somewhere warm and dry.

The only problem is the bats that attack me for my scraps of food and leave guano all over my meagre belongings and my poor face. When it gets into my eyes it stings like crazy and I don't see as well as I used to. I tried sleeping with my head in a bag, but that just made it easier for the possums to sneak up and defecate in my hat.

Oh if only I had a Bigger Brother to help me through into the life of unbelievable luxury that you so obviously enjoy without even a thought of how we lesser folk exist.

Truly yours,

Pepsi

LionsHead [Visitor] in response to: Bubba Watson gets the thumbs up in my opinion

LionsHead [Visitor] — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 04:49:59 +0000

In relation to your second para, I too have played with similar people. However, the comments that I remember seem more like:

"What are you a homo?"
"Soft!!!"
"Does your husband play?"
"Pussy!"
"No that's good . . . for you"

etc.

Sound familiar to anyone?