Norman sympathises with O’Hern
GREG Norman can empathise with Nick O’Hern.
After all Norman, who’ll tomorrow line up in his first tournament since November alongside the likes of fellow Australian O’Hern at the Dubai Desert Classic, has been pipped for a tournament victory by a brilliant shot or two in his time as well.
After more than 150 starts O’Hern had looked set to grab his breakthrough European Tour win at the Qatar Masters earlier last week when Retief Goosen sank a stunning 18-metre eagle putt to snatch the title.
But Norman, famously denied the 1986 US PGA and 1987 US Masters titles by miracle shots, believes O’Hern will grow from the disappointment of last Sunday.
“What happened to Nick is golf and that happens in this game and I’ve seen it happen to me and I’m sure I have holed similar putts in my career to come from behind and win,” said Norman.
“You can’t control what other people do on the golf course and all you can do is finish the best way you can.
“We know Nick’s a world class player and he will be stronger for what happened last week in Qatar and I’m sure it can’t be long before Nick finally breaks through either on the European Tour or the US Tour.”
Former world No.1 Ernie Els was actually surprised to learn O’Hern had never actually won a European Tour event.
“I can’t believe Nick hasn’t won on Europe and I find that hard to believe and it’s something I can honestly say I didn’t know,” said Els, also playing the Classic.
“I knew that he won the Australian PGA last year and I just assumed he had won out here on the European Tour, so that comes a real surprise.
“I thought he’d won more than that and it just seems he is in contention a lot as was the case last week.
“Nick just seems to be up there every week.
“But you have to remember it was not Nick who lost the tournament last week.
“Retief won it with that putt and it’s happened to me and I know I’ve won tournaments that way so I’ve done it to other guys.
“Nick’s a great player and he took it on the chin just like you’d expect and I’m sure it can’t be long before we see him winning out here on the European Tour.”
O’Hern’s seventh second place finish in Europe saw him jump five spots to a career high of 16th on the rankings while he now holds the dubious European Tour record of the most second place finishes without a win.
Stuart Appleby, Marcus Fraser, Brett Rumford, Richard Green and Peter O’Malley are the other Australians in the field.
AAP