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Greg Norman Means Business


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February 2006

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Once upon a time, the Great White Shark was best known as the man the golf gods loved to hate. Now he's a one-man multinational and those gods are on his payroll

By CAMERON MORFIT
Senior Writer, GOLF MAGAZINE

Norman’s said for a while now the Tour would have trouble sustaining its astronomical growth, and he gives the impression that he would like nothing more than to see Finchem fall flat on his face. Collins describes their relationship as "measured."

In fact, Norman and Finchem need each other. Norman hopes his new Lansdowne course near Washington, D.C., someday will replace the TPC at Avenel as host of the Booz Allen Classic, and that’s just the beginning. The Norman-Finchem connection extends to the Shark’s unofficial Tour event (the Shootout); the Normandesigned TPC at Sugarloaf, home of the BellSouth Classic; and a piece of land in San Antonio which Norman won the right to turn into another TPC course that’s expected to become the new home of either the PGA Tour’s Texas Open or the Champions Tour’s SBC Championship.

The Secret of My Success
Hard work and visions are keys to Norman's conquest of the business world
1. "Trust your instincts. Trust your gut. But do your due diligence."
2. "Understanding your enemy is the greatest secret in life. If they work for eight hours a day, I’m going to work for 10. If they’re hitting the ball 300 yards, I’ll hit it 305."
3 "My interests are directed toward putting money back into the companies and seeing them grow."
4. "Our success is a result of knowing how to market a brand and having the right people represent that brand."
5. "I’ve had some three-putts in the business world, but if you’re going to be in the game, you have to accept those and move on."
6. "All of our businesses are set up for the long term."
7. "To become successful, an entrepreneur has to have vision. If you go into a project with no vision for the future, it is destined to fail."

Norman also has been mentioned as a possible captain of the International team at the 2007 Presidents Cup, an event owned by the Tour, but says he hasn’t been contacted about the job and wonders why he wasn’t invited to attend the 2005 Cup.

"The PGA Tour plays things very close to the vest," Norman said recently. "You really don’t know until Finchem says something, and [even then] he really doesn’t tell you anyway."

Norman is a decade removed from his prime, but looks as he did when he ruled the World Ranking for 331 weeks: fit, crisply dressed, with the same blindingly blonde hair tousled atop the same copper brow.

"Norman was probably the most photogenic guy we ever had on camera," says Frank Chirkinian, a former CBS golf producer.

A natural introvert, Norman seemed uncomfortable around the swishy country club set that permeated his profession. He flew solo—in his own chopper. With few exceptions, his peers rolled their eyes and steered clear of the enigmatic superstar, as he did of them.

"I played on Tour with him for six years and didn’t have one conversation with the guy," says Tour journeyman and TV announcer John Maginnes.

In any case, Norman refused to tone down his glitzy lifestyle or temper his bombast. Caddie Bambi Levin recalls Norman annihilating his drive down the 13th fairway at the 1991 Masters, then wheeling around and boasting, "If that’s not the best drive you ever saw, Bambi, I’ll eat the cover off that golf ball."

"It was a great drive but I was caddying for Brian Tennyson, not him," Levin says. "He connected better with people outside golf. I was in Perth when he was having his boat built and Greg went down there with a keg of beer to give to the workers."

Norman’s bravado was not only good cover—it was good business. His "Attack Life" credo appealed to alpha males, wannabe alpha males and sofa spuds who attacked mostly hoagies. He broke away from IMG in '93, creating Great White Shark Enterprises; hired Collins away from the Cleveland-based agency two years later; and sold his lifestyle one piece of clothing, bottle of wine and golf-course villa at a time.

"He can assimilate information very quickly," Collins says. "He can walk out of one room where you’re on subject A, into another where you’re on B, and then play golf 20 minutes later and have no residual hangover from the other meetings."

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