Shark Firm: Mark Cheated

The Shark was back on the prowl Friday at the NEC World Series of Golf.

But if anyone believes that Greg Norman wasn’t furious enough Thursday about his rules dispute with Mark McCumber to walk away from the final three rounds … well, think again.

“Believe me, the whole back-nine holes (Thursday), I could have bench-pressed 500 pounds - I was that mad,” Norman said after Friday’s second round.

Norman was so mad that he threatened to withdraw from the tournament. He changed his mind only after talking with his wife and with PGA commissioner Tim Finchem.

The incident started on the green at No. 7. Norman accused his playing partner, McCumber, of illegally pressing down a spike mark in McCumber’s putting line.

McCumber denied the charge.

A PGA official was called to the green, but he could not determine which player was correct. The benefit of the doubt goes to the player whose ball is in question.

But at the official scorer’s trailer, Norman refused to sign McCumber’s scorecard and left the course.

“Oh yeah, it definitely affected my play (Thursday), it was as simple as that,” said Norman, who shot a 3-over 73 on Thursday but rebounded with a 68 to sit four behind leader Jim Gallagher Jr. “I’m very morally and ethically strong in the game of golf. I’ve done a lot of things at the golf course where I’ve had to pull out and disqualify myself for doing the wrong thing.”

McCumber stands firm: “What Greg thought that he saw is not what happened. I removed a bug from my line. From Greg’s viewpoint, which he estimated to be 12-15 feet away, he thought it was a piece of grass. And it’s no more or less than that.”