Celebrity Mound

It’s been 20 years since Chris Evert retired from professional tennis, but the tennis legend is still putting her strong right arm to good use.

As Australian golfer Greg Norman strode onto the fairway at the Par-3 tournament warm-up ahead of the U.S. Masters in Georgia, he was followed by a familiar looking blonde.

Dressed in white overalls, a green baseball cap and trainers, Chris dutifully carried out her duties as caddy to her husband as he lined up to putt.

While her 54-year-old husband of 10 months concentrated on the game, the centre court star hoisted the heavy bag of golf clubs over her right shoulder and carried it around the Augusta National Golf Club.

The three-times Wimbledon winner admitted it took rather a lot of persuading by Greg to convince her to be his caddy.

She said: ‘The last request came as the plane landed. I said I’d leave it up to him. If he really wanted me to do it, I would.’

While attending to her husband at the ninth hole, the crowd started cheering her name in the hope she might try her hand on the fairway.

She explained: ‘Don’t you know I was outta there. I haven’t moved that fast since ‘72.’

Norman admitted he was thrilled to see his wife in such close quarters during the game: ‘I think I just got her to come around to being comfortable with it.

‘I guess she heard it in my voice how much fun I thought we’d have. We had a good time. I’m sure she enjoyed it.’

‘The Great White Shark’ didn’t win the game, but scored an impressive hole-in-one at the 40-yard No.6, which he celebrated with a kiss from his wife-turned-caddy.

Norman enthused: ‘It was a sweet moment. It looked like it was gonna go in all the way and Chrissie said, “Is that what normally happens?”‘

Norman is hoping this year might be the year he finally clinches the Masters trophy.

He has been runner-up in the contest three times previously, the last being in 1996.

His participation in this year’s U.S. Masters comes after a seven year absence from the tournament.

He qualified after coming third in the British Open last year.

Evert and Norman announced their relationship in early 2007 and married in the Bahamas last June.

The marriage was the third for Evert, who was previously wed to British tennis player John Lloyd (79-87) and ski racer Andy Mill (88-06), with whom she has three sons.

Norman split from ex-wife Laura and reportedly gave her $100million in their divorce settlement in 2007. The couple have two children together.

(source)

GREG Norman and Chris Evert are being pampered ahead of their lavish wedding in the Bahamas tomorrow.

They have been enjoying a $10,500-a-night oceanfront villa at the One & Only Beach Club on Paradise Island since arriving three days ago to oversee final preparations for their nuptials.

The four-bedroom villa, which is separated from the rest of the resort by a white picket bridge, comes with a round-the-clock butler and housekeeper to cater to the couple’s every whim.

The palatial 450sqm homestead also features floor-to-ceiling glass walls overlooking a pristine private beach and turquoise ocean.

Norman and Evert can enjoy meals cooked by a private chef, as well as sorbet and champagne served as they swim in their private pool.

The villa is one of three identical homesteads and Norman is understood to have paid $105,000 for the pair’s families to stay in the other two for five nights.

The Great White Shark’s daughter Morgan, son Gregory and his Queensland-based parents, as well as Evert’s three sons – Alexander, 16, Nicholas, 14, and Colton, 12 – are understood to be in clifftop villas.

The couple has hired out the entire property _ which includes luxury suites and several two-bedroom garden cottages – for their guests for four days from yesterday.

About 400 people are expected to attend the nuptials, with many having begun to arrive in the Caribbean destination yesterday from around the globe.

Norman’s son Gregory, who will be his best man, was the only member of the considerable entourage spotted yesterday.

The 22-year-old – whose mother is Norman’s ex-wife Laura Andrassy – showed off a toned, tanned torso when he went for a run along the private beach.

When approached by the Australian media at the border of the private beach, he was polite but brief in his comments.

“I’m just here for my dad’s wedding,” he said.

Secrecy is high on the agenda. Norman has hired a private security firm to keep media from Australia, the UK and US at bay.

Uniformed security guards yesterday manned the private beach and set up check points at both ends of the property.

(source)

GOLF great Greg “The Shark” Norman and tennis star Chris Evert are getting married Saturday, six months after they got engaged, sources say. The couple and their nearest and dearest are heading to the Blue Shark Golf Course in the Bahamas, owned by New York-based real-estate developer Roger Stein, to tie the knot. It will be the second marriage for both.

(source)

A pair of athletic champions have found happiness in each other’s arms less than one year after divorcing their former spouses.

Pro golfer Greg “The Shark” Norman and former tennis champ Chris Evert were speaking at a press conference in South Africa on Friday about the new tennis center Evert is building, when journalists noticed the rather large diamond on her left ring finger. When asked about the sizable stone, Norman responded, “Well, it is an engagement ring. We were engaged on Sunday night coming over here, en route to South Africa.”

Norman went on to say the two have not yet set a date for a wedding. The scandalous backstory is that Evert divorced her second husband, Andy Mill, earlier this year, and was rumored to be the reason why Norman left his now ex-wife, Laura, to whom he paid a $100 million settlement.

(source)

TENNIS legend Chris Evert didn’t waste much time finding a new doubles partner. Just weeks after her divorce was finalized, Evert has tongues wagging in Palm Beach about her new relationship with Aussie golfing legend Greg “The Shark” Norman. The two, who are both 51 and live in Florida, have been seen together. Norman told reporters last month, “We’re very, very close friends, and we’ll leave it at that. OK?” Evert’s reps told us, “We don’t comment on her personal life.”

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