GOLF / THOMAS BONK : ‘The Shark’ Remains Consistently Dangerous

If Greg Norman were any more consistent, you could set your watch by his golf swing. He may have had better years than 1995, but it’s possible he hasn’t ever been as consistent.

Norman played only 16 events, had nine top-10 finishes, won three times, earned $1.65 million and made every cut except when he withdrew from the MCI Classic because of a back injury.

In fact, if you don’t count that injury withdrawal, Norman has made every cut in every PGA Tour event since the 1993 U.S. Open.

Norman regained the No. 1 ranking and even though he didn’t win a major, he was satisfied with the way he played.

“I’m most pleased about my consistency level,” Norman said. “Every time I went out, I was in the running.”

Norman has won two British Open titles and, at 40, still has time to compete for a few more. But he said he isn’t driven by winning major tournaments alone.

“I’m a player who wants to win, whether it’s a major championship or not,” Norman said. “That’s all I play golf for. When you get to a certain level, some play golf for the money and some play golf for the thrill of competition.

“I just feel if you win tournaments, you’ll have a chance to win major championships.”

Raymond Floyd, who has won four major titles, said Norman’s approach is the correct one.

“It’s not realistic to say ‘I’m playing to win major championships,’ ” Floyd said. “When you’re on top, there’s only one way to go and everybody is shooting for you.”

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Curtis redux: The comeback of Curtis Strange continued over the weekend at the Shark Shootout, where his failure in the Ryder Cup looked even further in the past.

Strange was in a good mood, joked about his favorite NFL team (the Washington Redskins) and played well with partner Mark O’Meara.

He continues to be in the news, though. Golf World had him on the cover last week with the headline: ‘I will prove people wrong.’ ”

Strange is also the cover boy for the December issue of Golf Magazine, which ran a first-person account of his Ryder Cup play.

The lead on Strange’s story: “I lost.”

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Skins update: In 1996, the Skins Game is moving to Rancho La Quinta under terms of a three-year agreement.

Since 1992, the Skins Game has been played at Bighorn. Robert Trent Jones Jr. designed the 7,068-yard Rancho La Quinta layout.

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More Skins: Tom Watson played in the first Skins Game in 1983 when he was 34 and in his prime. His competition was Jack Nicklaus, 43, Gary Player, 48, and Arnold Palmer, 54.

Watson won one skin and $10,000. He did a lot better last year at Bighorn when he won $210,000. Watson is back as the defending champion in the $540,000 event to be played Saturday and Sunday at Bighorn.

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Swinging ugly: Jim Furyk’s unorthodox looping golf swing was good enough for him to bank $180,000 for winning at Kapalua, but ugly enough to inspire this description from David Feherty:

‘It looks like an octopus falling out of a tree,” Feherty told Jeff Rude of Golfweek. “Or like a man trying to kill a snake in a telephone booth.”

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Four more majors: At the PGA Grand Slam of Golf, the winners of the four majors were asked who they would have liked to play golf with. For what it’s worth, here’s their response:

Ben Crenshaw: “Bobby Jones. He was a genius golfer, but he was an infinitely more interesting gentleman. I just find him totally fascinating.”

Corey Pavin: “Byron Nelson. He’s the classiest act I’ve ever seen. He’s the man I respect the most in the game of golf that I’ve ever met. I wouldn’t mind playing with him right now, let alone 34 years ago.”

John Daly: “Gene Sarazen. He’s just a very tremendous individual. He nicknamed me the ‘Babe Ruth of golf.’ He’s just been tremendous to me, even through my down times.”

Steve Elkington: “Jackie Burke. He was such a father figure to me. Also, he’s told me so many stories about all the old players . . . the Hogans and Sneads. He’s given me a great history of all that.”

Golf Notes

If prize money in golf events catches your eye, consider the $2.1 million Diners Club Matches Dec. 7-10 at PGA West ($890,000 for 16 PGA Tour teams, $610,000 for eight Senior PGA Tour teams and $610,000 for eight LPGA Tour teams). Among regular 1995 tour events, only the Players Championship ($2.5 million) and the Tour Championship ($3 million) had bigger purses. . . . Attention autograph-seekers: The PGA Tour is instituting a new autograph policy for 1996 tournaments, designed to discourage autograph seekers before players play their rounds. Instead, players who have finished will be shuttled to a tent to sign autographs for as long as 15 minutes and as short as 10 minutes. A PGA spokesman said players who want to sign anywhere else are free to do so. . . . The Roger C. Beach golf tournament raised $100,000 for the 4-H after-school program for inner city children ages 7-13. . . . Quick, who finished second behind Greg Norman on the PGA Tour money list? Billy Mayfair, who won $1.5 million. . . . Robert Landers update: The Texas farmer/golfer tied for fourth in PGA Senior Tour qualifying at San Antonio last week and has made it to the finals Nov. 27 at the Westin Mission Hills in Rancho Mirage, where 76 golfers will compete for the eight full exemptions next year. . . . The $1 million Lexus Challenge, which benefits Childhelp USA to prevent child abuse and neglect, features a celebrity field and such Senior PGA Tour stars as Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Raymond Floyd, Lee Trevino, Gary Player, Chi Chi Rodriguez, Hale Irwin, Dave Stockton, Tom Weiskopf, Jim Colbert, Bob Murphy and George Archer. The event will be played Dec. 13-16 at the Citrus Course at La Quinta. . . . Like father, like son? Maybe. The Office Depot Father/Son Challenge will be played Dec. 2-3 in Vero Beach, featuring father-son teams of Billy and Bobby Casper, Raymond and Ray Floyd Jr., David and Andrew Graham, Tony and Warren Jacklin, Johnny and John Miller, Larry and Drew Nelson, Hale and Steve Irwin, Dave and Ron Stockton, Lee and Tony Lee Trevino, Tom and Eric Weiskopf.