Considering Jason Norris has almost died twice while playing golf in Queensland, it’s no wonder he believes the state owes him.
Norris’s Sunshine State woes began in 2007 when he sustained life-threatening head injuries after crashing a bicycle into a concrete wall at Coolum during that year’s Australian PGA Championship.
And on Thursday, following an opening round four-under 67 at this year’s PGA Championship at Royal Pines, Norris revealed he’d suffered another serious medical problem during March’s Queensland PGA in Toowoomba.
The Victorian pro was flying high in Toowoomba after shooting an opening-round 60, only just missing a mystical 59 when he bogeyed the final hole.
But Norris’s tournament ended in hospital after a chronic headache was diagnosed as meningitis, an illness that would rule him out of the game for two months.
“The doctor said you’ve just got to get yourself straight to hospital, you can drop dead,” Norris said.
“With bacterial meningitis if you don’t get onto it straight away, you can die quite easily very quickly but viral meningitis, it actually feels like you’re going to drop dead.
“It’s like someone’s just squeezing a vice tighter and tighter and you can’t get away from it, no matter how many drugs you take.”
Despite his health woes north of the Tweed, Norris admits he loves Queensland although by his own admission the after-effects of his sickening injuries in that 2007 accident have hampered his development as a golfer.
“I would have excelled a lot more if I didn’t have the accident,” he said.
“That set me back a long time. I came back and played some of my best but my form and my body has never been the same.
“You can’t dwell on the past, can you? I think I’m still happy to be here, so I’ll I look at it that way.”