Norman Regains the Pinnacle
To think that I started at Royal St George’s with a six, a double bogey on the first hole, it goes to show that you should never get too discouraged when some thing doesn’t go as you planned.
I have always been a believer in being positive, in life and on the golf course, and I have always believed in my ability to do anything I wanted to do.
My thanks go to my wife, Laura, who has shared the bad times and the good; to my coach, and to many friends and supporters who have always been behind me.
That final round was one you just dream about. I cannot say in my whole career that I have played a round and not missed one shot, but that day I never mis-hit a shot. I hit every drive perfectly, every iron perfectly, and only made a mess of one putt, that very short putt on the 17th.
I was enjoying the championship so much, I wished it wouldn’t finish.
I knew I had to play well because of the caliber of golfers around me — Bernhard Langer, Nick Faldo, Corey Pavin, Nick Price, Peter Senior, Fred Couples and the rest, people whom we all regarded as the best players in the game. I loved that competition.
We knew from the first round that this would be one of the best Open Championships ever, and the best that anyone could ever win. I was never thinking of setting records, only of staying focused and wanting to win, and this was the best I ever played in my life.
To win this championship, the most important golf title in the world, and to win against those players, means everything.
