Murray Irwin "Moe" Norman (July 10, 1929 – September 4, 2004) was a Canadian professional golfer.
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Career highlights
- Canadian Amateur Champion (1955, 1956)
- 55 career Canadian Tour event victories
- Canadian PGA Championship winner (1966, 1974)
- Canadian PGA Seniors' Championship winner (1979 - 1985, 1987)
- 33 course records
- Inducted into the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame in 1995
- Inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame in 2006
- Results in The Masters Tournament
- 1956: Shot 75 & 78 (153 total) then withdrew.
- 1957: Shot 77 & 74 (151 total) missing the cut by one stroke. This was the first year of cuts after the second round.
Details
Born in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, he played briefly in the PGA Tour but due to shyness and a preference to stay in Canada, he stayed in Ontario rather than travel. His play, along with his way of dressing, were both described as unconventional. He devised what is known as "The Norman Swing"—very short backswing and very short follow-through which produced an amazingly accurate ball placement. Norman played extremely fast, sometimes not even slowing to line up his putts. He was inducted into the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame in 1995. He never took a golfing lesson. It is even said that on one hole his caddy told him he could get to the green with a driver and a nine iron. Naturally, he hit off the tee with his nine iron and then onto the green with his driver. Norman's skills as a ball striker are legendary. Sam Snead, himself a great golfer, once described Norman as the greatest striker of the ball. In January 2005, Tiger Woods told Golf Digest's Jamie Diaz that only two golfers in history "owned their swing": Moe Norman and Ben Hogan. Stated Tiger, "I want to own mine." Norman died in a Kitchener hospital from congestive heart failure. He had suffered from congestive heart failure since having heart bypass surgery six years earlier. He also had a heart attack two years before his death.
Titleist
In February 1995 the president of Titleist and FootJoy Worldwide, announced that it would pay Norman $5,000 a month for the rest of his life.
