mack
02-08-2008, 02:16 PM
Maybe they can hold off until September and it can be a double-wedding with Figjam's? :cheers:
Evert-Norman - matchup of No. 1s
Scott Ostler, San Francisco Chronicle
Friday, February 8, 2008
(02-08) 04:00 PST Pebble Beach -- Joe Tabloid here, chasing down the inside scoop on the sporting world's hottest new couple - Chris Evert and Greg Norman. Norman is playing the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am with his college-student son, Gregory. Evert flew from her Florida home to San Francisco on Thursday and limo'd straight down to Poppy Hills to join Norman - either because she can't stand to be away from her guy or because he forgot his car keys. Just before Evert arrived with two of her sons, Norman four-putted the 13th at Poppy from 30 feet. When he saw Evert, he walked to the ropes, smiled and gave her a hug and a cheek kiss (come on, Shark!).
I'd like to tell you that Norman then got pumped and vaulted onto the leaderboard, but that didn't happen. He did birdie the next two holes, but bogeyed 16 and 17 and finished with a first-round 76, 10 strokes off the lead. No way Shark's going to win this little clambake, but hey, he's got Chrissie Evert, and the other 179 pros don't. If you're wondering, Evert looks good. She's 53 and she retired from tennis 18 years ago, but as my source close to the Evert camp said, "She's in better shape now than when she was playing."
Norman's in good shape, too, at 51 (he turns 52 Sunday). Sharks don't get fat. Inside info on their relationship, I don't have a lot for you there. I know they were introduced some years ago by Evert's then-husband, Andy Mill, and the two couples socialized. Mill and Evert separated a year ago last October after 18 years of marriage and three kids. Norman and his wife of 25 years (they have two children) divorced in June, and it was not amicable.
Evert and Norman became engaged in December. Fill in the blanks with your imagination. When is the wedding? "Probably this summer," Evert smiled. "Ask him." I did. "We have got a date," Norman said, "but you'll have to wait and see what it is." Apparently Evert will also have to wait to see what it is. Chicks dig enigmatic guys.
Whatever the date, it's going to be the all-time greatest power-merger of sports superstars/corporate titans.
Evert was ranked No. 1 in women's tennis for seven years, or 364 weeks. Norman spent 331 weeks as the world's No. 1 golfer. Evert owns and teaches at the Chris Evert Tennis Academy, presides over a huge annual charity celebrity tennis tournament, hires out for corporate outings, is the publisher of Tennis Magazine and raises three boys, 11 to 16.
Norman designs golf courses, develops resorts, has companies that grow golf grass and make wine and owns a restaurant in Myrtle Beach, S.C. Evert recently signed a contract to create tennis academies at Norman's resort developments. I hope they stay together, because if they ever split, 50 lawyers will mud-wrestle.
They certainly looked happy Thursday as she stood behind him after his round, her arms around his waist as he chatted with the press. Mature canoodling. Norman said his days as a regular on the PGA Tour are over because, "I've got a lot on my plate, especially the one around my waist right now." Evert said she doesn't play golf because, "It's too time-consuming, and I have three boys, and now him."
This is the first and last PGA tourney on Norman's schedule this year, though he said he might play the British Open. He is playing the AT&T because Gregory asked him to. Gregory attends the University of Florida and is a two-handicap with a sweet swing, which is fortunate. Can you imagine if you were Greg Norman's kid and you had a swing like Charles Barkley?
The Shark's still got plenty of game but said he simply doesn't have the old passion for battle, and he's too busy to practice. It's weird: You get so good at golf and so famous that you make tons of money doing golf-related stuff and you can no longer afford to play golf.
"I did play (a tournament) in Mexico," Norman said, "at a golf course I built. I like the golf course." If he didn't, what would he do? Bulldoze it and start over? Evert said she and Norman play a lot of tennis together. Her golf participation is confined to watching her fiance.
"My observation of golf," Evert observed, "is that mentally it's a tougher sport than tennis. There are no freebies. I've been down 6-0, 5-0, 40-love and come back to win. You can't do that in golf. You have to be relentless with every shot. And if you win a golf tournament, you beat every golfer in the field. My first Wimbledon (win), I didn't play Billie Jean (King) or Evonne (Goolagong) because they lost in earlier rounds, and I surely would have lost to them on grass then."
Still, Evert won 18 Grand Slam singles titles and rarely did she sneak in the back door. Evert is a champion, Norman is a champion. They have so much combined competitive juice it's scary. I wonder who controls the TV remote. They walked off the course hand-in-hand, before I could pry from them the juicy details of their courtship and relationship. Who do I look like? Pat O'Brien?
This article appeared on page D - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle
Evert-Norman - matchup of No. 1s
Scott Ostler, San Francisco Chronicle
Friday, February 8, 2008
(02-08) 04:00 PST Pebble Beach -- Joe Tabloid here, chasing down the inside scoop on the sporting world's hottest new couple - Chris Evert and Greg Norman. Norman is playing the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am with his college-student son, Gregory. Evert flew from her Florida home to San Francisco on Thursday and limo'd straight down to Poppy Hills to join Norman - either because she can't stand to be away from her guy or because he forgot his car keys. Just before Evert arrived with two of her sons, Norman four-putted the 13th at Poppy from 30 feet. When he saw Evert, he walked to the ropes, smiled and gave her a hug and a cheek kiss (come on, Shark!).
I'd like to tell you that Norman then got pumped and vaulted onto the leaderboard, but that didn't happen. He did birdie the next two holes, but bogeyed 16 and 17 and finished with a first-round 76, 10 strokes off the lead. No way Shark's going to win this little clambake, but hey, he's got Chrissie Evert, and the other 179 pros don't. If you're wondering, Evert looks good. She's 53 and she retired from tennis 18 years ago, but as my source close to the Evert camp said, "She's in better shape now than when she was playing."
Norman's in good shape, too, at 51 (he turns 52 Sunday). Sharks don't get fat. Inside info on their relationship, I don't have a lot for you there. I know they were introduced some years ago by Evert's then-husband, Andy Mill, and the two couples socialized. Mill and Evert separated a year ago last October after 18 years of marriage and three kids. Norman and his wife of 25 years (they have two children) divorced in June, and it was not amicable.
Evert and Norman became engaged in December. Fill in the blanks with your imagination. When is the wedding? "Probably this summer," Evert smiled. "Ask him." I did. "We have got a date," Norman said, "but you'll have to wait and see what it is." Apparently Evert will also have to wait to see what it is. Chicks dig enigmatic guys.
Whatever the date, it's going to be the all-time greatest power-merger of sports superstars/corporate titans.
Evert was ranked No. 1 in women's tennis for seven years, or 364 weeks. Norman spent 331 weeks as the world's No. 1 golfer. Evert owns and teaches at the Chris Evert Tennis Academy, presides over a huge annual charity celebrity tennis tournament, hires out for corporate outings, is the publisher of Tennis Magazine and raises three boys, 11 to 16.
Norman designs golf courses, develops resorts, has companies that grow golf grass and make wine and owns a restaurant in Myrtle Beach, S.C. Evert recently signed a contract to create tennis academies at Norman's resort developments. I hope they stay together, because if they ever split, 50 lawyers will mud-wrestle.
They certainly looked happy Thursday as she stood behind him after his round, her arms around his waist as he chatted with the press. Mature canoodling. Norman said his days as a regular on the PGA Tour are over because, "I've got a lot on my plate, especially the one around my waist right now." Evert said she doesn't play golf because, "It's too time-consuming, and I have three boys, and now him."
This is the first and last PGA tourney on Norman's schedule this year, though he said he might play the British Open. He is playing the AT&T because Gregory asked him to. Gregory attends the University of Florida and is a two-handicap with a sweet swing, which is fortunate. Can you imagine if you were Greg Norman's kid and you had a swing like Charles Barkley?
The Shark's still got plenty of game but said he simply doesn't have the old passion for battle, and he's too busy to practice. It's weird: You get so good at golf and so famous that you make tons of money doing golf-related stuff and you can no longer afford to play golf.
"I did play (a tournament) in Mexico," Norman said, "at a golf course I built. I like the golf course." If he didn't, what would he do? Bulldoze it and start over? Evert said she and Norman play a lot of tennis together. Her golf participation is confined to watching her fiance.
"My observation of golf," Evert observed, "is that mentally it's a tougher sport than tennis. There are no freebies. I've been down 6-0, 5-0, 40-love and come back to win. You can't do that in golf. You have to be relentless with every shot. And if you win a golf tournament, you beat every golfer in the field. My first Wimbledon (win), I didn't play Billie Jean (King) or Evonne (Goolagong) because they lost in earlier rounds, and I surely would have lost to them on grass then."
Still, Evert won 18 Grand Slam singles titles and rarely did she sneak in the back door. Evert is a champion, Norman is a champion. They have so much combined competitive juice it's scary. I wonder who controls the TV remote. They walked off the course hand-in-hand, before I could pry from them the juicy details of their courtship and relationship. Who do I look like? Pat O'Brien?
This article appeared on page D - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle