Greg Norman may play in PGA Championship

by The Associated Press

Wednesday July 23, 2008, 9:15 AM

AP PhotoGreg Norman finished third at the British Open and now has an invitation to play in the PGA Championship.

TROON, Scotland -- Greg Norman says he has until Thursday to decide whether to accept an invitation to play in the final major of the year, the PGA Championship.

Norman's third-place finish at the British Open at Royal Birkdale has given him a place in the field for the PGA at Oakland Hills outside Detroit Aug. 7-10.

"The PGA have extended an invitation to the PGA Championship and I haven't confirmed or denied what I'm going to do yet," Norman said Wednesday on the eve of the Senior British Open at Troon. "That's four weeks in a row, and I already have something else on my schedule then.

"I'm going back tonight to talk about it over dinner. So I have to make a decision. I don't want to hold up the PGA of America. It's a great honor to be thought of in that regard. I must tell them in the next 24 hours."

Norman, whose business interests have made him a part-time golfer these days, plans to play in the Senior U.S. Championship in Colorado Springs, Colo., next week.

The 53-year-old Australian, who took a one-shot lead onto the back nine in the final round at Royal Birkdale only to finish six behind Padraig Harrington, also said he doesn't want to play too many tournaments after undergoing several operations to repair long-term injuries.

"This morning I woke up stiff and I had to do a bit more stretching," he said. "And I hadn't even hit a lot of balls yesterday. So that's always in the back of my head.

"I've had multiple surgeries and those multiple surgeries do start to show up when I hit a lot of golf balls. And I have to be careful. When I had back surgery a few years ago I had to decide whether to replace my vertebrae with artificial vertebrae. We decided not to. You can't put an artificial vertebrae in there and go and play golf.

"So I can't go out there and just pound golf balls. My practice routine is 90-150 minutes now, not hours upon hours. And I do hit very few drivers now. I'm more middle irons, short irons, chipping and putting."