Shark

The Biography of Greg Norman

By: Lauren St. John

Narrated by: Ian Esmo

Greg Norman is golf's most complex and controversial celebrity and perhaps its most gifted and charismatic player. Winner of more than 70 tournaments, including the 1986 and 1993 British Opens, he has reigned as the world's number-one-ranked golfer for most of a decade and began 1998 as the PGA Tour's career-earnings leader with almost $12 million. As ruthless in the boardroom as he is on the golf course, the Shark turned a $2 million stake in Cobra Golf into a payoff of more than $40 million, bought a Boeing 747 jet for his personal use, and launched a clothing line bearing his multicolored-shark motif.

Three parts Crocodile Dundee, two parts Jack Nicklaus, and one part Don Quixote, the jet-setting Shark is larger than life. He has raced Ferraris with Nigel Mansell, hauled marlin over the side of plunging boats, scuba dived with sharks, taken a joyride in an F-14, saved drowning friends, and entertained a US president at his Florida compound. Yet Norman stands blond head and broad shoulders above golf's elite as the sport's most notorious victim of cruel calamity. His dramatic losses at the 1986 PGA Championship, the 1987 Masters, and the 1996 Masters rank among golf's most inexplicable defeats rendered by the most outrageous strokes of misfortune.

In this riveting and revealing biography, internationally acclaimed journalist Lauren St. John examines Norman's conquests as well as his failures and his relationships with his father, his agents, fellow golfers, and caddies. Using her unparalleled access to dozens of people who know Norman best, including the Shark himself, St. John explains how Norman's fear of bankruptcy drove him to win the 1986 British Open; exclusively reveals the background of the break-up with his first manager and his subsequent split with IMG; tells why golf's greatest natural talent has so often snatched defeat from the jaws of victory; and explains his tempestuous relationships with Jack Nicklaus and other top players.

©1998 Lauren St. John (P)1999 Blackstone Audiobooks

Its a hard listen

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

Found the book hard to listen to, not sure if its because of the accent of the narrator or the monotone delivery. Disappointing purchase

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Ian Esmo?

Greg Norman

Terrible narration

I have started to listen to this bike twice but the narration is so terrible I cannot continue. The narrator sounds like he is teaching to a kindergarten class. A more annoying narration I have not heard in my years of listening to books on audio.
Unless you enjoy the punishment of bleeding ears - give it a big miss - which is a pity as I am sure it would be a good book, I may actually have to buy a copy of the actual book

Great story, but tough to listen to.

The story itself is great.

Like other reviews claim, the narrator is tough to enjoy listening to. I contemplated if i wanted to listen to the whole book while listening to the first chapter. although I listened to the whole book, I don't believe he was the best choice for this reading.