Golflogic.ca

If you really want Tiger Woods, Ernie Els and Vijay Singh to come and play in Canada just call the event the Moe Norman National Open Championship. These guys owe some part of their game to the little guy with the comic book face.
 
My nominee for Canadian golf legend remains Moe Norman. His achievements in the sport outweigh many others who played the game at its high-test level. 
So why isn’t Moe an icon the same way other big names in golf are? He didn’t act or look the part. He was neither corporate nor cool material. He was poor much of his life, living for golf and living at times in his car.
 
Despite his teaching prowess and competitive successes he was unlikely to be asked into a clubhouse afterwards because he might befriend someone in one moment and rebuke them the next. He was called shy, yet boasted feats no Texan would own up to. His constant chatter belied a deep intelligence that was baffling to those of a lesser acumen. He loved the limelight and was anxious away from it. The course was one of the few places he felt safe and in control.
 
Somehow Moe managed to survive a demanding career with a chronic mental condition that might have been overcome or at least managed better had it been medically treated. He also had a more serious affliction that was left undiagnosed almost up to the time of his death in 2004.  He was, you know… Canadian, eh.
 
All this meant Moe was off kilter, remote and gentle yet brusque and funny. And nearly always acting over the top. If he were alive today he’d have his own website, columns, television show and a bit part in a movie about his life. Canada celebrates its anti-heroes who lambaste the pretentious and come from behind, winning when they’re not supposed to. They poke a finger in the face of any conventional wisdom. (Trailer Park Boys, anyone?)
 
Only later in life was Moe recognized for his genius and his enormous courage. When his name is mentioned, people who knew of him usually smile. He was a guy who overcame his limitations in a game that demands perfection. He was more than a journeyman golfer. He was more like a character in a Homeric poem. Moe is worthy of a sculpture cast in bronze. All the rare birds in the world would fly on a pilgrimage to pay homage to the little man sitting on the back seat of the very car he lived in on his way from one tournament to another.
 
Sam Snead had the foresight to befriend Moe at an important time. Snead recognized in Moe the heart of a square peg trying to sink a putt into a round hole. Many, at the top of their game, have come to appreciate Moe’s talents once he got the stick in his hand and taught them – in his own way – along with millions of golfers, to love the game.
 
Yes, if invited, Tiger would come to the Moe Norman National Open Championship. Other luminaries too would play to honor a man who broke rules and broke new ground in a sport they now excel in. Moe deserves to be honored by the best in golf as well as by the rest of us misfits.
 
http://www.moenorman.com/
The Man, The Myth, The MOE