Greg Norman has long been the Presidents Cup greatest champion and spruiker. When the Cup was introduced by the US PGA Tour 15 years ago, as a new-fangled version of the Ryder Cup to accommodate the growing number of world-class players from outside Europe and the US, it struggled for acceptance among both players and fans. But Norman's enthusiasm for the experiment was crucial in ensuring it survived those difficult formative years.

And no-one celebrated the International team's comprehensive win at Royal Melbourne in 1998 harder than Norman, who had revelled in the chance to play in front of his home galleries, on one of his favourite courses, and hand the Tiger Woods-led Americans their first defeat in the competition.

He had always coveted the Captain's role of the International team and when he got the chance 18 months ago to follow in the footsteps of Peter Thomson and Gary Player, he was ecstatic. At the announcement in early 2008, Norman said: "I very much look forward to the opportunity and challenge of serving as Captain for the International Team. I have fond memories of The Presidents Cup as a participant, particularly of our victory at Royal Melbourne. I look forward to working with some of the greatest players in the world and to field an outstanding International Team and win the Cup back in 2009."

When his opposite number, American Fred Couples, recently made two very conservative choices for the 11th and 12th players on his US team, Norman could not resist the temptation to make two typically cavalier and left-field selections for his captain's picks. He went with the profoundly out-of-form Adam Scott and the Japanese rookie Ryo Ishikawa. When those names were announced, everyone smiled and gave a rufeul shake of their heads: good old Shark, throwing caution to the wind again.

But now the biennial teams event - due to start on Thursday at Harding Park, a public course in San Francisco - has been overshadowed and, to an extent, undermined by Norman's split from his wife of 15 months, Chris Evert.

The event now is certain to be submerged by gossip and speculation about the separation, and swamped by myriad reporters and TV crews wanting Norman's reaction to the news. And one can only speculate about the Australian's state of mind, and how focussed he will be at Harding Park, while this maelstrom swirls around him.

Sure, a marriage has ended and that is more important than any golf tournament. But golf fans everywhere will be muttering to themselves: the Shark's done it again. The event that Norman so wanted to win, and play a leading role in, has instead become a vehicle for more bad publicity and more jokes at his expense.

As has become customary for the past 20 or more years, Norman and big-time golf have combined again to produce drama, theatre, tragedy and, yes, a little farce  in a way that few sportsmen or women have ever managed before him.

For the record, and I mention it almost as a footnote, here are the teams to contest the eighth running of the Presidents Cup:

UNITED STATES

Phil Mickelson

Tiger Woods

Jim Furyk

Stewart Cink

Justin Leonard

Kenny Perry

Steve Stricker

Lucas Glover **

Zach Johnson

Hunter Mahan **

Anthony Kim

Sean O'Hair

INTERNATIONALS

Vijay Singh

Ernie Els

Robert Allenby

Retief Goosen

Mike Weir

Adam Scott **

Angel Cabrera

Tim Clark

Geoff Ogilvy

Camilo Villegas

Y.E. Yang

Ryo Ishikawa **

** 2009 captain's pick