On His Mark

Mark Wiebe Wins Senior Open Championship

Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Mark Wiebe’s dramatic win on the fifth playoff hole against Bernhard Langer in the Senior Open Championship at Royal Birkdale was in many ways a major victory for Colorado. One of the first calls the 55-year-old champion made was to Marilyn Norcross of Greeley-based Winquest Worldwide. Wiebe credits Norcross with getting his mental game back on track while he was struggling to make a return to the PGA Tour after a 2003 elbow surgery.

“I was near the end of my Tour life, and I came back too early after the surgery and it all snowballed,” Wiebe admits now. His frustration led him to consider quitting professional golf. “But I didn’t want it to end that way or to set that example for my kids,” he says. He contacted Norcross.

“He was a 6-2 guy but looked about 5-2 because he was lacking confidence,” she remembers. “He’d lost his feel because of the injury. There was a mind-body disconnect and nothing worked the way it did before.” Using proprietary techniques including hypnosis, Norcross helped Wiebe rebuild his belief in himself as a golfer.

“Marilyn totally helped me find my confidence when I couldn’t play golf very well,” Wiebe reflects. “I had started to forget everything I’d done well in golf. I not only had to retrain my elbow muscles and tendons, but my brain. She stopped me from going in one direction and starting in another.” By the time Wiebe was eligible for the Champions Tour, his direction was locked in. He won his first event in 2007 and has notched two more victories in addition to July’s Senior British Open triumph. He says he feels he’s been playing the best golf of his life.

“I can think of plenty of local golfers who could benefit from what she does,” says Wiebe, who no longer works with Norcross but says he still pulls from the toolbox she gave him. “She somehow brought out my confidence. Confidence is massive. You can be crappy, but if you’re confident about your game, you can win.”

Colorado AvidGolfer is the state’s leading resource for golf and the lifestyle that surrounds it. It publishes eight issues annually and proudly delivers daily content via www.coloradoavidgolfer.comJon Rizzi is the founding editor and co-owner of this regional golf-related media company producing magazines, web content, tournaments, events and the Golf Passport.

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