Sure seems like “the man” is back on top again. Greg Norman, a person who has been missing from golf for seven months, is approaching the dominating force he was in 1997.

After having surgery on his left shoulder 12 days after the Masters, the Shark didn’t touch a golf club for months because of the wounded fin. Instead of swinging golf clubs, he was jet-setting with his family on vacations all over the world.

I sorely missed Greg during the golf season because I think the game suffered because the high-profile player was missing.

Golf’s other marketable figure, Tiger Woods, had an off year and we had to hear the names of Mark O’Meara and David Duval spew from golf commentators’ mouths.

I’m sorry O’Meara and Duval fans, but neither one of these men can equal what the Shark brings to the game.

Norman has dipped all the way to 14th in the Sony World Rankings of the world’s best players. The worst he had been since joined the tour was seventh. Still, that will probably change a little because he finally won the Shark Shootout that he hosts every year.

He’s hosted that tournament since 1988, and now he finally won it with fellow Australian Steve Elkington on the third sudden-death hole. Of course, they had to shoot a 58 in the “scramble” round to just get in the playoff.

At the tournament, Norman really developed his game. What was really impressive was his putting. He made three crucial putts in the last round which contributed to the victory.

All week, Norman had to get the “feel” shots back. These included the sand shots, trouble shots (over trees, and so on), the putting, and so on. Things obviously were coming back for Norman this past week.

I admit, turning the television on yesterday afternoon after the disappointing San Francisco 49ers loss and seeing Norman standing on the 18th tee waiting to start the playoff was incredible.

This is especially true since there was a log-jam at 13-under par heading into the day. Norman, known more for choking at the end, came through in a big way for his team.

Before the tournament started, Norman told reporters that he wasn’t really concerned with being number one in the world anymore. He took it gracefully, saying that if it happened, it happened. Norman also said that the competitive juices were back but that he wasn’t looking to win every time out. He was back in the game for the sake of being in the game.

Hopefully, for Greg’s sake, this kind of mental attitude will help him win tournaments that got away from him in the past. Obviously, I am talking majors here. For many years, the Shark had been swimming upstream because he would put pressure on himself to win and he didn’t. Now, it seems like he isn’t.

The sun is probably setting on his career as Father Time is getting to him. He is 43 years old, but he claims the left shoulder feels 25 again. When you average those two ages, you get age 34.

It was 1989 when Greg was 34, and he won three tournaments that year. What a year it would be for Greg if he could duplicate that after being away from the game for seven months!

More immediately, though, Norman must concentrate on the Skins Game during Thanksgiving weekend (which is nothing) and the President’s Cup tournament.

This event pits the United States’ best against the world’s best. It will be played in Melbourne, Australia in December, which is Greg’s stomping grounds. Surely, he would want to play well in front of the home folks.

As for me, I am proud that the Shark has become one of my sports heroes again. The game was depressing without him and while watching each tournament I would think “If Greg was here, how would he be doing?”

Though the season in the late months of the PGA Tour season is known as the “Silly Season,” Norman’s return to the game has been anything but silly as he showed signs of regaining the old form that I dearly missed and that is badly needed back in the game.