British Open: Greg Norman Is On the Brink Of History

It is as if we have been watching a prototypical Hollywood movie over the past three days.

The plot of this movie, much like a well-known baseball film called "Field of Dreams," involves a step back in time.

The rain and wind came over Royal Birkdale on Thursday and Friday. When the sun finally came out on Saturday, we had been transported back 15 years in time and Greg Norman, as would have been expected during that time period, is leading the British Open.

But wait, pinch yourself, turn the channel and make a few phone calls and you will realize that it is indeed the year 2008 and Greg Norman is indeed leading the British Open by two strokes. Now, he's 53 years old, and his two-stroke lead heading into Sunday is a truly miraculous event, not a Hollywood film.

Everyone, admittedly including myself, figured that Norman would at best drop down the leaderboard on Saturday and at worst come fully back down to reality, similar to what was seen from David Duval.

But The Shark was having none of it. 

He went out and shot an impressive round of 72 in winds that were almost strong enough to stop play on several occasions.

He hit fairways, outdriving former Korean body building champ K.J. Choi on more than one occasion.

He hit greens, leaving himself with even more birdie opportunities than he was able to capitalize on.

He played smart; he executed, and most importantly, he played with confidence, giving off a persona that said ‘no worries, been here and done this before’.

As if the 2008 golf season hasn’t been shocking enough with Tiger Woods winning the U.S. Open on one leg and Kenny Perry becoming arguably the best player on Tour, we now have 53-year-old Greg Norman 18 holes away from winning the British Open, a mere 15 years after his last Open victory. 

If Norman were to hold on and win the Open tomorrow, it would be nothing short of a small miracle and would rival, if not overtake, Woods’ performance at Torrey Pines. 

But, playing devil’s advocate, Norman is also faced with an additional, heartbreaking scenario.

As we all know, Greg Norman has blown 54-hole leads on more than one occasion, to put it mildly.

Twelve or so years removed from serious tournament play, Norman is only now becoming known for his remarkable career rather than for his many meltdowns at the majors

If Norman were to blow a lead on the back nine tomorrow, although clearly a much different situation now than 15 years ago, I fear that the big story would be his renewed position as one of the games biggest choke artists rather than the miraculous play by this 53-year-old man over the past week.

As unfair as the situation may be, there is no way of overlooking the fact that if Norman can hold on to win the British Open tomorrow, his past collapses will be all but forgotten about forever. If he happens to falter on the back nine and blow his lead, his reputation as a goat will come to the forefront with more vigor than ever.

After years of answering questions about the tournaments he let get away, Norman has been given a rare chance to go back in time and correct the blunders of his past by shocking the world and winning the British Open at 53 years old. 

Greg Norman, go out tomorrow, shock the world, and give every golf fan the most inspirational story since Ben Hogan returned from one foot in the grave to win the 1950 U.S. Open at Merion.

More importantly, go out tomorrow and silence all those critics who have insisted upon looking solely at your blunders rather than a career that included two majors and 87 professional victories.