After giving his all for the last three years as a commissioner and CEO of LIV Golf, Greg Norman would be leaving that post for a different senior position in the breakaway circuit. Exactly in August 2025, the 2-time major winner will step down as the head at LIV. As he prepared for that departure, the White Shark got a small reminder of another of his losses, which probably stung for a while.

A recent video was posted by Majecticks GC on Instagram and its co-captain, Lee Westwood was asked about his favorite win of his career which expands three decades. The answer was when Westwood defeated Norman at the 1997 Australian Open. The 51-year-old reasoned, “I had only been pro about four years. I’d grown up idolizing Greg Norman” so winning against him probably felt better. The group even teased Norman as they jokingly asked, “Remember this one @shark_gregnorman ?😅.”

He probably did remember it too because Norman was not expected to lose. In that year, Westwood had won on three different continents, and winning the Stonehaven Cup was his fifth victory for that season. It was just the second time that he was playing in the Australian Open at the Metropolitan Club in Melbourne. But Norman was already a 5-time winner and was the winner for two consecutive years, 1995 and 1996.

Winning in 1997 would have meant that the White Shark would’ve written history as the first-ever golfer to win the Australian Open. But then where did Norman slip up, which gave Westwood the upper hand despite being less experienced against Norman?

Lee Westwood got lucky as Norman missed

The then-24-year-old pro, Lee Westwood came in full stride as he was 2 strokes behind Greg Norman. The LIV Golf’s CEO was leading the event but missed the last putt at the 18th hole and had to enter the playoffs against Westwood as both finished 14 under 274. As the home crowd’s favorite, the gallery expected and believed even before the winner was announced that Norman would emerge victorious. For the first three playoff holes, things were equaled but as the two reached the 4th hole, Norman missed a five-footer for a par as his ball lipped out.

But Westwood on the other hand, drained in his par putt.

A late cheer for the English pro indicated that the crowd was stunned for a few seconds but they did celebrate with Westwood in the end. In one interview, the Majesticks GC player expressed his true feelings from then and said, “To beat Greg in a play-off on his home soil was a very special feeling… I guess for everyone watching, it was though I had delivered a huge shock when I won the playoff because Greg was the home favorite and everybody was expecting him to win, and not many expecting me to succeed.”

Not only the fans but the loss had broken the heart of Greg Norman too. And why wouldn’t it, he missed out on making history in the playoffs. He said, “I’m disappointed. But I wasn’t really in sync. I didn’t have a whole lot of rhythm.” After this, Norman never won the Australian Open again. The two never met each other in a playoff again but for Westwood, it was one of the greatest feelings to defeat Greg Norman when he was at his peak.