Greg Norman: Team captain, traffic cop
MELBOURNE, Australia -- Greg Norman admitted it was an unusual way to create team unity during Presidents Cup week, but an issue with the International team's bus after dinner Monday may have done just that.
The Presidents Cup
The Presidents Cup was first contested in 1994, and the 2011 edition is held Nov. 17-20 at Royal Melbourne Golf Club. ESPN.com Topics has full coverage. The Presidents Cup »
Norman said when the team left a Melbourne restaurant, its bus "bottomed out" and got stuck in a gutter on a side street. Concerned that the bus might get damaged if it moved with the weight of the players in it, they jumped off the bus and helped direct the reversing bus back down the street to a major road.
That's when the fun began.
"It was an interesting situation where a car was coming up and the guy had his window down and I'm walking up to him doing this (waving arms as if to stop traffic) down the street right and he started winding his window up thinking I must have been coming to take him on or something, I don't know," Norman said, laughing.
"He wound up his window and stood and stared right out. And I said, 'Just roll down your window' with a smile on my face, and then he got it and turned around and went back."
The driver must have been surprised to come across Norman, without a doubt Australia's most recognizable sportsman, playing traffic cop. But there was more.
"We had to back the bus all the way out on the main street," Norman added. "K.J. (Choi) was on one side and I was on the other side holding up the traffic. I thought that was a good way to bring a bit of team camaraderie together because it was just spontaneous."
Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press
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2011 PRESIDENTS CUP
Veteran Jim Furyk's surprising 5-0 record paced the U.S. to its fourth straight Presidents Cup victory. Bob Harig
Championship Central
2011 champion: United States, 19-15
Course: Composite Course, Royal Melbourne Golf Club
Where: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Yardage, par: 6,996 yards, par-71
Topics: The Presidents Cup
Rosters: United States | International
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