Brisbane, Australia - As the global economics crises intensifies former World No.1 Greg Norman, nicknamed “The Great White Shark” is suggesting one solution- pay cuts for golfers.
“Prize money’s being scaled back in Europe, I wouldn’t be surprised if prize money’s scaled back in the U.S. just out of respect to every citizen and taxpayer over there who’s suffering dramatically,” he was quoted as saying at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on Wednesday. “It seems like on the PGA Tour the players are still playing for a million dollars first week, like they’re recession-proof.
The average purse on the tour cost $5.8 million in 2008.
He further remarked that is he was the PGA Commissioner; this would be one of his main recommendations. Norman, considered to be one of Australia’s highest-earning athletes and the owner of a large multimillion-dollar business spent six years at number one. He now seldom plays on the big tours but was in Australia to play the Johnny Walker Classic for the weekend in Perth. He was leading at last year’s British open by two strokes going into the last round and finished with a tie for a third. He is planning to make another try for the Masters at Augusta, Georgia, where he lost to Nick Faldo in 1996.
Norman also suggest avoiding lengthening the courses in order to accommodate the longer shots caused by longer golf clubs.
“I think the powers that be could have done a better job of managing the technology breakthroughs that took place over a period of time and implemented different rules for us, the professionals, and not having to spend millions upon millions of dollars to change golf courses for four rounds.”