The new Norman, 44 years young and the first to surpass $12 million in Tour earnings, requires an intense amount of physical therapy -- the kind that stretches and loosens his surgically repaired left shoulder -- for up to an hour before swing time, and as long as an hour after he's done.

``I need somebody else to grab hold of it, pull it and move it around because I can't do that myself,'' Norman said last month. ``As long as I keep playing, I'll need to keep rehabbing.''

He's had to rehab his mind so much, his body is trying to catch up. Healthy, focused and driven, it's not much of a stretch to say the swashbuckling Shark could loom again this week.

A year ago, Norman was considered the Masters' greatest anomaly, a highly talented X-factor amidst a sea of younger golfers. It turns out the Shark entered with a wounded wing, his left shoulder shooting with pain every time he swung a club, forcing him out of The Players Championship. He was diagnosed with posterior capsulitis, a condition that caused his shoulder to slide out of its socket.

Then, standing on the 18th tee during the Masters' first round, Norman's shoulder locked on his backswing. His duck hook flew over the gallery's heads before it crashed off a tree trunk and rolled back into the fairway 30 yards away.

Norman actually sounded relieved with missing his second consecutive Masters cut, for it helped crystallize how much repair his body needed. Three days after his Friday 78, Norman had an MRI on his shoulder. On April 22, surgeons shaved a bone spur that caused tendinitis in his rotator cuff and used lasers to shrink the capsule of his shoulder socket.

``In all honesty, the surgery and your down period right after the surgery is the easiest part,'' Norman said. ``The hardest part starts when you have to start your rehab and continue going basically for the rest of your life as long as you want to play the game.''

Surgery shelved Norman for seven months, rendering the world's former No. 1 golfer more a course designer and family bus driver. Instead of sapping his golfing drive, the respite helped re-energize his will to win.

``Before the surgery I had no desire to go out and hit golf balls because I was in so much pain,'' Norman said. ``For the first 20 or 30 swings I would have shooting pains down my arm. I think I made a comment a couple years ago that I am not enjoying playing. That was the reason why, because a) I didn't know what was wrong with my shoulder, and b) I wasn't enjoying hitting golf balls because of my shoulder. So it freed up all that. Really gave me an unfiltered approach back toward my game and my life because I had more time to sit back and become reflective on things for seven months time.''

Part of his reflections dwelled on the numerous Masters near-misses. With a little more good fortune, Norman could be a three-time green jacket wearer. But we all know about Nicklaus' comeback in '86, Mize's chip-in in '87 and his collapse in '96. The tournament symbol for catastrophe is the Shark.

Norman served notice late last year that a new shoulder didn't lessen his bite. With fellow Aussie Steve Elkington, he won his own Shark Shootout. He played valiantly on the winning President's Cup team, losing to Tiger Woods 1-up in Sunday's singles play. After his tie for 19th at last month's Doral, Norman topped $12 million in career earnings.

Said good friend Nick Price: ``He looks like the old Greg Norman to me.''

``I am under zero pressure,'' said Norman, who has won the most Masters money without a win.

``To me, I can stop now and everything I have done in the game of golf, good or bad, has been great. Yes, I haven't achieved everything I wanted to achieve, and I gather 99.9 percent in the world feel the same way about what they do in their lives. I just want to do the things that I want to do and enjoy them the best I can enjoy them. That is why I say I have zero pressure on myself. Pressure is out there because I want to compete.''

Maybe the new Norman can redeem the old Norman's past wounds.

Chip shots: Greg Norman

Attributes his Great White Shark nickname to a headline in The Augusta Chronicle in the early 1980s.