Florida Swing Special Report Tuesday 5 March Bears, Sharks and Tigers

Golf in Florida is famous for its Alligators and Birds but a fair share of other animals have had success in the Sunshine State over the years. The Animal world and the golfing world live side by side across the world, with deer, antelope, crocodiles, alligators, birds of all types, bears, fish, foxes, rabbits and badgers making the golf course environment home in various locations across the world, adding to golf's unique appeal in many ways. You often see television directors making golf tournaments more wildlife show than live golf broadcast especially in South Africa and in Florida, when we get to Sawgrass in May the Alligators and Birds will be almost as popular as the golfers themselves on a course which is renowned for its lake residents.

Of course the only way you are likely to spot a Bear, Shark or Tiger is in a Zoo in the state of Florida, but the three are synonymous with golf in Florida for another reason. Animal nicknames in golf have been common since the dawn of the television era and the popularization of the sport and perhaps the three most famous golfers ever with animal nicknames are three of the greatest golfers of all-time, perhaps three of the most iconic sportsmen ever. Jack Nicklaus, Greg Norman and Tiger Woods have won 34 Majors between them, have had a truly astonishing 33 runner-up finishes and 140 top tens in total in the games biggest events. The trio have won nearly 300 titles worldwide and on the back of this have formed three of the biggest brands and sports related businesses of any group of sportsmen or women worldwide, ranging from event management to golf course design, fine wine to clothing and charitable work.

In 1967 Jack Nicklaus was given the nickname “The Golden Bear” by Australian sports writer Don Lawrence in regard to Jack's blonde hair and stocky build, it was a nickname that would grow to be almost a new name for the global superstar and in the early 1970's Nicklaus ended his agreement with IMG and Mark McCormack to establish Golden Bear Inc. This would be the brand for Jack Nicklaus both on and off the course and it would grow with Nicklaus' success on the course in the 1970's and 80's to enable him to go into a full-time role once his career came to an end, the business now has several divisions including Nicklaus Design, Nicklaus Golf Equipment, Jack Nicklaus Apparel, Nicklaus Golf Academies, Nicklaus Travel and Jack Nicklaus Wines. 

Jack Nicklaus won his first Florida-based title in 1970 at the original PGA National club, claiming the National Four-ball championship with Arnold Palmer, a year later he won the first of three straight Walt Disney World Golf Classics, wins followed at Doral, Inverrary and Sawgrass Country Club becoming the first and so far only three-time winner of The Players Championship.

Nicklaus moved to North Palm Beach, Florida in 1965 with his wife Barbara and has lived in the same house since 1970 where they have raised five children and been grandparents to 22. The Nicklaus's have taken a key role in developing golf in the state of Florida and in particular South Florida, designing 33 courses across the Sunshine State including re-designing the Champion Course at PGA National in 2006. The Nicklaus's, Barbara especially, have taken a key role in The Honda Classic, through which they have raised money and awareness to support the Nicklaus Children's Healthcare Foundation in its mission to provide healthcare for children in the North Palm Beach area with the MCH Nicklaus Care Center. Since The Honda Classic moved to the Champion course at PGA National the event has become on the premier stops on the PGA Tour prior to The Masters and has attracted most of the world's best golfers at some point since 2007, the changes to the course and the energy and focus brought to the event by the Nicklaus's have elevated a once weak event to world-class standard with over 100,000 fans attending throughout the week.

Jack Nicklaus loves St Andrews, he won two Open Championships on the Old Course and we are sure that he and you will love the first digital monthly golf news publication launching in the Home of Golf this Fall. Interviews, features, instruction, health and fitness and much more, but in particular a behind the scenes, inside the ropes guide to golfing in the greatest golfing destination on earth and we meet those who love St Andrews and make the town what it is. Log on to www.standrewsgolfmagazine.com and subscribe now for FREE.

Whilst bears are very definitely land lovers the same cannot be said for Sharks, but both are fearsome in reputation and massive in stature, and the same applies to the most famous sporting shark of all, The Great White Shark. Greg Norman.

At 6ft tall and one of the fittest players on the tour Greg Norman was known for his prodigious driving off the tee and brisk swing, along with his putting prowess the Queenslander became one of the world's most renowned sportsmen of the 1980's and early-mid 1990's. 2 Major wins, an unfortunate 8 runners-up finishes and a superb 30 top tens out of 90 majors played along with a total of 87 worldwide wins saw Norman lead the Official World Golf Rankings for a then record 331 weeks between 1986 and 1997. The two-time Open Champion was given the nickname because of his blonde hair, aggressive style on the course and because Sharks inhabited Australian waters. Like Nicklaus, Greg Norman built a business empire, perhaps the most successful since Arnold Palmer Enterprises, based entirely on that nickname. Great White Shark Enterprises was established in the 1980's beginning with Golf course design and now has divisions in golf resort development, turf, fine wine, beef production, investments and golf development, with its offices in Jupiter, Florida and Sydney, Australia.

The golf courses of Florida played right into the hands of the Shark, with his high ball flight and powerful driving he brought the likes of Doral and Sawgrass to its knees, winning twice over the daunting Blue Monster course in Miami and once with a record-breaking performance at the Tournament Players Club Sawgrass.

Each December Norman hosts the Shark Shootout at a course developed by his development company, the tournament features teams of two golfers competing for unofficial money after the season has concluded.

Greg Norman is one of the most traveled golfers in the world, playing in and winning in many countries across the globe, and the first digital monthly golf news publication from the Home of Golf is launching this autumn. A global publication with a local feel. Log on to www.standrewsgolfmagazine.com and subscribe now for FREE.

Tiger Woods loves St Andrews, he has won two Open Championships on the Old Course and we are sure that he and you will love the first digital monthly golf news publication launching in the Home of Golf this Fall. Interviews, features, instruction, health and fitness and much more, but in particular a behind the scenes, inside the ropes guide to golfing in the greatest golfing destination on earth and we meet those who love St Andrews and make the town what it is. Log on to www.standrewsgolfmagazine.com and subscribe now for FREE.

Perhaps the most graceful of the trio is the Tiger, the largest of the cat family, not quite as large as the Bear but more attractive to the masses. A description which could fit nicely to the third of the big three golf superstars based in Florida. Tiger Woods, technical perfection in 2000 has won less Major titles than Nicklaus but more than anyone else and gains more attention than any other golfer in the world, the media favourite and golf's greatest draw card. Eldrick Woods got the nickname Tiger unusually not from the media but his father after a colleague of Earl's in the Vietnam War, given to him in the hope it would give him courage and strength in adversity, and again the name has grown with the brand along with the on and off-course success of Tiger Woods.

The Woods family moved to Orlando, Florida in 1996 (due to California's tax rate) and settled in the gated community of Isleworth, following the divorce of Woods and wife Elin Nordegren in 2010 Woods moved into a new purpose-built house in Jupiter, Florida. Tiger has had almost unprecedented success in the state of Florida with wins at Doral (3), Sawgrass (2) Disney (2) and Bay Hill (8) across his USGA and PGA Tour career, and has represented Isleworth in 5 Tavistock Cup competitions and Albany in the 2 most recent editions of the self-styled World Golf and Country Club Championship played at Lake Nona and Isleworth each March in Orlando ahead of Golf's First Major, the Masters.

In 1996 Earl and Tiger Woods established the Tiger Woods Foundation with a mission to help provide educational services and improve health and welfare of all children in America and eventually the operation is intended to be a global one. The TWF holds Junior Golf Clinics in Orlando. The foundation is very different to the businesses of Greg Norman and Jack Nicklaus as it is solely devoted to helping children. Tiger Woods design has yet to get off the ground after hitting problems with finances in both Dubai and North Carolina, Woods has yet to design a golf course in Florida. 

Normally the combination of bear, shark, tiger, alligator and bird would cause havoc and fear in the community, but in Florida the Golden Bear, Great White Shark and the Tiger can live happily side-by-side with the native wild animals of the state and to the benefit of golf in the Sunshine State. Nicklaus, Norman and Woods have won a combined seven times over the Blue Monster course and this week 49 of the world's top 50, including Tiger, will tee-it-up for the second World Golf Championship of 2013, read my preview of the WGC-Cadillac Championship tomorrow.

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