Greg Norman repeatedly disses Tiger Woods

Let there be no doubt: Tiger Woods hears what Greg Norman is saying.

But can he do anything about it? Does he still have enough game, enough fight, enough champion's pride to make Norman choke on his words?

For those who haven't heard, Norman has been talking a lot about Woods lately. And not much of it has been particularly flattering. Or encouraging. Or even diplomatic.

Just last month, in fact, Norman told Golf Magazine -- for its November issue -- Woods now has too many distractions to maintain the focus he had when he won 14 major championships in 11 years and, because of that, he doesn't think he will win another one.

"Tiger, when he dominated, had a single-shot approach," said Norman, 56, a former world No. 1 who won two British Opens. "It was only about the golf."

In the interview, Norman said "people are looking for things that are wrong with Tiger now," and that "the more he shuts people off, the worse it gets."

He also took note of Woods' body language on the course since the 2009 Thanksgiving night incident and embarrassing sex scandal that followed, saying, "He doesn't keep his head up anymore. He's got his eyes down. He's trying to keep his eyes away from the camera, right?"

Then there was this: "Tiger can still play, and I think he'll win again. But he's not going to do what he did before."

And he wasn't done.

Last weekend, while promoting his Shark Shootout tournament in Naples, Fla., Norman was at it again, this time speaking as captain of the International team that will play against the U.S. -- and Woods -- in next month's Presidents Cup event in Australia.

Norman said if he were the U.S. captain, he would have chosen PGA Championship winner Keegan Bradley, not Woods, to play for the Americans.

"I can understand the name of a Tiger Woods and his history of what he's done on the golf course," Norman told the Naples Daily News. "But I pick the guys who I think are ready to get in there and play and have performed to the highest levels leading up to it."

To drive home his point, Norman added: "I just don't think he's swinging the golf club the way he used to, when he won all those major championships. He's a different player out there nowadays."

It was an honest opinion and a fair assessment, given that Woods hasn't won a major since the 2008 U.S. Open and hasn't won anywhere on the PGA Tour in more than two years.

It is also true Woods has done nothing this year to deserve a place on our Presidents Cup team. He was picked by U.S. captain Fred Couples because of who he was.

But let there be no doubt: When he gets to Australia next month, Woods won't forget what Norman said.

We'll see if he can do anything about it.

(Ray McNulty writes for Scripps Treasure Coast (Fla.) Newspapers, The Stuart News, Fort Pierce Tribune and Vero Beach Press Journal. E-mail him at ray.mcnulty@scripps.com.)