Greg Norman says Aussies have been a Major disappointment

GREG Norman says the fact no Australian golfer has won a Major recently is "not acceptable". 

Adam Scott

GREG Norman says Australia's strike rate in golf's Major championships in recent times is unacceptable given the players' talent.

It's now six years since Geoff Ogilvy won the 2006 US Open, and that remains the only major an Australian has claimed in the past 17 years.

In the 17 years before that Australia won six Majors - through David Graham, Norman twice, Wayne Grady, Ian Baker-Finch and Steve Elkington.

"I am disappointed the Aussie guys have not stepped up to the plate and won more, not only just for the game of golf in Australia but for the players individually,'' Norman said.

"The simple answer is no, it's not an acceptable strike rate considering the talent and the capabilities of the Australian players we have out there.

"There's a slew of them (who are capable), but you can look at other countries too that haven't really done it.''

Norman saw no definitive reason why the Australian players hadn't been able to claim ultimate glory but suggested the depth in world golf made it increasingly difficult.

"It doesn't make sense to me because the (Australian) players are good enough to do it on a regular basis,'' he said.

"But when you think about it, you've got all these great players around the world and there's only four (Major) golf tournaments per year, so there's only going to be four winners, so you can see the odds are getting harder and harder.

"You can see that with Tiger Woods now; it's getting harder and harder for him to win it because the older he gets, the younger everybody else gets, and the younger they get, the less intimidated they are by him.''

Norman highlighted the fact there had been nine successive first-time major winners and 15 different winners in the past 15 Majors as more proof the game of golf is booming talent-wise.

"I've never seen golf as healthy as what it is today on a global basis,'' he said.

"That's why I think the spoils are being shared around equally and fairly.

"It's a credit to what's happened to global golf.''

Australia's highest ranked golfer is Adam Scott, at 17. Next is Jason Day (21), John Senden (35) and Aaron Baddeley (46).