At age 52, Greg Norman doesn't embarrass himself at Pebble Beach like John Daly does nearly every week now

A few days shy of his 53rd birthday, Greg Norman is competing in his first PGA Tournament in almost two years so he can play with his son at Pebble Beach. You seemingly couldn’t write a surer recipe for embarrassment.

Only, it isn’t.

Norman shot a 4-over 76 in the first round and in terms of ball striking it was much better than that (The Shark putted with the touch of a drunk sailor). That’s only good enough for a tie for 149th in the 180-man field. Still, Norman played a pro’s pro round. Whether he’s 52 or 62, there’s no way Greg Norman is ever going to go out and embarrass himself or the tournament in a PGA event.

Now contrast that with John Daly, who’s still allegedly a full-time pro athlete. Daly shot a seven-over 79 while yucking it up with sitcom star Kevin James. Only one golfer in the whole field had a worse score than Daly.

Kevin James and Big John have a lot in common. They’re both fat for starters. Only, James does not make his living as a professional athlete. Daly still thinks he can. What he’s doing mostly this year is embarrassing himself and the Tour week after week. PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem had a meeting with Daly after his party withdrawal from the Bob Hope. Now Butch Harmon is telling people he had a heart to heart with Daly leading up to this week - making Harmon about the 150th person to try this and all but certainly soon the 150th one to fail.

All these years later, Daly still doesn’t understand what it means to be a “pro.”

A guy like Greg Norman will never forget. That’s the difference. That’s why Daly’s such a sad joke, just playing out the string until the inevitable Dr. Phil camera-seeking intervention.

For more on Norman - including how he thinks the Senior Tour is almost as big of a pathetic fraud as I do (does this make Greg Norman anti-old people too Senior defenders?) and how his relationship with Chris Evert seems to have relaxed him - check out this column on WorldGolf.com. You can also read the first full review of Norman’s new Blue Shark Golf Club.

Even before it’s official opening to the public, Blue Shark’s already the most interesting course on the Bahamas’ most populated island - and a sharp departure from many of Norman’s early hacker-battering designs.

For more on Big John, just look up Clown in your golf dictionary.