They Don't Call Him The Shark For Nothing!

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Daphne Duret reports on the latest Norman divorce antics that ought to really help wine sales with the married female demo. Thanks to reader Steven T. for this:
What months ago was characterized as a nearly resolved divorce settlement between golf great Greg Norman and his wife, Laura, has now turned into the most contentious aspect of their split to date - one that has Laura Norman accusing Greg of changing the locks to the couple's Jupiter Island home and cutting off her credit cards.

According to paperwork filed by Laura's attorneys Monday, the tactics are all part of an attempt to "coerce" their client into signing a marital settlement agreement both parties referenced before Judge Lawrence Mirman in June.
Back then, they announced that they had settled all but one issue - a potential IRS tax liability from Greg's jet - in their yearlong divorce battle.

The couple's attorneys have since failed to get both Greg and Laura's signatures on several drafts of settlement terms, and Greg has cut off her access to credit cards which were Laura's only way to pay daily living expenses.

"She now has no means of support," her attorneys wrote.

Greg Norman's attorneys last week filed paperwork asking a judge to compel Laura Norman to sign the latest of these "term sheets," but Laura's attorneys in their motion Monday said the only reason Laura hasn't signed the papers is because Greg has altered and expanded the terms.

Laura says Greg, who in the golf world in nicknamed "The Great White Shark," has also refused to pay her attorneys' fees and "is attempting to starve (her) out so she has no choice but to surrender to his positions," Laura's attorneys Jack Scarola and Russell J. Ferraro wrote.

Greg's lawyers, in a letter to Scarola, said he has already paid them about $725,000 to fund the litigation, including a half-million dollar payout in April. The money, according to Laura's lawyers, has been used to pay attorneys' fees and hire a number of expert witnesses who pored over the couple's finances to come up with the settlement.

Attempts by Laura's lawyers to get more money was met earlier this month with a refusal from New York attorney Howard Sharfstein, part of Greg's legal team. In addition, according to Laura's lawyers, Greg fired the couple's housekeeper and changed the locks on their $21 million Jupiter Island estate.

Laura's attorneys said she never previously asked for alimony because she had been using credit cards from Great White Shark Enterprises, one of Greg's companies, but she is now asking Mirman to force Greg to pay until the divorce is final.

Greg's attorney Martin L. Haines last month said that he was eager to give Laura a huge payout that is a part of the settlement, but refused to do so until she signed the papers.

Sharfstein offered only one way out in a letter dated Aug. 6: "An expedited execution of the marital agreement will put into your client's hands more than sufficient funds to meet all of her obligations," Sharfstein wrote.

Attorneys for the Normans could not be reached for comment Monday.

Greg Norman, whose net worth has been estimated at half a billion dollars, filed for divorce in the summer of last year to end the couple's 25-year marriage, citing irreconcilable differences.

"The issue: Who will pay for the tax liability on the couple's ownership of private jets?"

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You know, I've stayed away from the Greg Norman divorce because this is, after all, a golf blog and not a Perez Hilton wannabe site. However, this is just too good to pass up. From Jose Lambiet in the Palm Beach Post.

 

After months of bitter legal wrangling, golf legend Greg Norman and his soon-to-be ex-wife announced Friday they have worked out a divorce settlement.

Their actual divorce, however, wasn't finalized at a court hearing in Martin County just yet because the two may be headed back before a judge for a two-day trial in September.

The issue: Who will pay for the tax liability on the couple's ownership of private jets?
Key word there, jets. Not jet. Jets. Oh the problems these two have!

 

This is fun:

"It's over. We signed a settlement agreement, but we also signed a confidentiality agreement and I can't talk about it," a beaming Laura Norman said outside the Stuart courthouse. "The trial is not a big issue, but they wanted a trial."

 

She can't talk about it, but she can tell us they signed a settlement agreement!

Meanwhile this Daily Mail story features pictures of Norman and "mistress" Chris Evert along with various dollar figures that don't really add up. Because if they did, we'd be seeing Greg out playing the Champions Tour...for the first time.

"Sadly, he doesn't pay much attention to that, and never has."

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In his Scotland on Sunday column, John Huggan lets Greg Norman rant about the usual stuff. I still enjoy reading it even if he's made many of these points before. Well, he's taken it up a notch on the topic of his good buddy, Tim Finchem.

"I can't fault Finchem in some respects," said the two-times Open champion in Dubai. "You have to say he has done a good job in getting prize- money up in America, so that players from all over the world are going there to play. But when you are the leader of the free world, as the United States is, you have responsibilities beyond that. President Bush has global responsibilities on his shoulders, whether he likes it or not, because of the power of the position he is in. It is the same for Finchem.
Ouch, a Bush-Finchem analogy. Has Greg turned on 43 too?
"He has a responsibility not to forget the rest of the world. He must support the likes of the European Tour, the Australian Tour and the South African Tour. Which has not been happening. Finchem has to be aware that every decision he makes has an impact around the world. Sadly, he doesn't pay much attention to that, and never has."
Now now, he $ee$ great potential in China!
On the subject of the world No.1, Norman is just one of a growing number of informed observers despairing of the fact that, Woods and one or two others apart, the sharp end of the professional game is populated by an ever-growing number of golfing robots devoted to hitting basically the same shot, time after tedious time.

"Because I grew up in an era when we could manoeuvre the ball maybe 60 feet in the air either way, I wonder at the game today," he sighed. "You don't see that any more. There were a lot of shot-makers in my day. And now, even though the very best players still come through, technology has bunched the players up. Tiger, of course, is the exception that proves the rule.

"I see so many players making a lot of prize-money without ever winning a tournament. In my day, you could make the cut, and still not win any money. You had to play hard to get anywhere. I realise people don't like hearing the old war stories about what we went through, but the powers that be in golf - the USGA, the R&A and the PGA Tour - should put some restrictions on the equipment used by the best players in the world."
They should, but that would require an ounce of integrity!
"I would rule the golf ball back to 1996 specifications, number one," he declared. "It's a crying shame that so many of the world's great courses have been lengthened by 400-500 yards for one week a year. The cost of that is just ridiculous, especially when you multiply it 30 or 40 times. That money could be better spent elsewhere. Golf is too expensive, and getting more expensive.

"I look at the Open at St Andrews two years ago. There were four tees there not even on the golf course. And I think of golf courses like Merion or Inverness. There is a long list: Royal Melbourne and Royal Sydney in Australia. The men who designed those great courses must be rolling over in their graves. I know I would be, in their position."

 

"It's all about money. It's all about the pension."

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From Seth Soffian in the News-Press of Southwest Florida:

Greg Norman drew the ire of some PGA Tour members recently when he criticized today's players for lacking charisma and the overt desire to challenge world No. 1 Tiger Woods.

On Saturday, he drew support from partner Nick Faldo in the Merrill Lynch Shootout. After their round, Faldo told CBS, for whom he will become lead analyst next year, that the riches in today's game have robbed players of the single-minded will to win.

"It's all about money. It's all about the pension," Faldo said after Norman again raised the topic.

Good, But Not Yet Norman

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Mike Colman offers some interesting anecdotes on the state of Australian men's pro golf and the top players love-hate relationship with Greg Norman.

Speaking of the Great White Shark, reader Mike reports that in his new book, Norman writes about the 14th at St Andrews and what a genius designer Alister MacKenzie was.

"In the Royal and Ancient clubhouse there is a hand-drawn diagram byMacKenzie that shows how he designed the hole to be played in five different ways."

Now there's a revelation!  

"Players need to bring the spirit back"

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Greg Norman continues to pass on the Kool-Aid by daringly pointing out that the pro game is not in the best shape.

"Players need to bring the spirit back," Norman said. "There has always been great players to bring people to the game to lighten it up so that it's not so serious.

"Look at what (Rafael) Nadal has done for tennis because of the way he is, like a boxer. You never hear anyone coming out and saying I want to beat Tiger Woods - I haven't heard that," Norman added. "Nadal comes out and says he wants to beat Roger Federer because he's No 1 and that's great for tennis."

Norman, who has played little golf - and watched even less - since making his senior's tour debut last year, also said the technology used in making golf clubs should be reserved for amateurs only.

"I have a problem with someone winning a golf tournament without using a driver," Norman said. "The game has always been dominated by power-hitter players, but today you can't tell the difference between the players because of the technology."

 

Norman Itching To Play Champions Tour, To Make Return At The International

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Actually, he just likes the milkshakes and I'm sure he'll be teeing it up in his first non-senior major at the Jeld-Wen in a few weeks. Oh wait, that's a major! Hard to keep track.

Speaking of the Champions Tour, check out John Hawkins' take on the ratings deprived Tour that once used to be popular when it didn't care about catering to 18-34 year olds and was called the Senior Tour.

Norman on Canadian Open

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Lorne Rubenstein talks to Greg Norman about the Canadian Open and his issues with the PGA Tour:

"It's a shame that tournaments like the Canadian Open, which have had a tremendous history, are not kept up in the upper echelon of events," the Australian said. "I really, really, truly believe that, because national events are made by the competitors. I remember watching the Australian Open when Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player and Arnold Palmer always came down."

The result is that a once significant championship is reeling. It's becoming possible to contemplate the contemptible: that it could become a bottom-feeder on the PGA Tour, or disappear altogether. That's unlikely, but the scenario was once impossible even to imagine.

"A Canadian Open isn't just for the professional golfers," Norman said. "It's also what the Royal Canadian Golf Association does behind the scenes to bring out a Mike Weir into the world. That can come only through national associations and [a tournament like] the Canadian Open."

There was emotion in Norman's voice. He doesn't like a lot of what's going on with the PGA Tour, and has been trying to get access to its financial records. Norman's engaged lawyers to help him. He's been stymied, but said he won't give up. Norman wrote a letter to PGA Tour members before their mandatory meeting with commissioner Tim Finchem and his staff during last month's Players Championship.

"I needed them to know what I was doing," Norman said. "I didn't want them to be told what I'm doing."

Norman will have more to say in his new book, which is scheduled for October publication. As for now, perhaps the RCGA should contact him. Norman doesn't plan to play the Canadian Open, but the former winner and two-time British Open champion has a passion for national championships.


More Norman v. PGA Tour

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Greg Norman has plenty to say about his request to open the PGA Tour's books in this Greg Hardwig story (thanks to reader Dan).

"To me, an open book's an open book,'' he added. "Like I said, I'm not on any witch hunt. I just feel like I have the right, and I have the right as a shareholder of a corporation.''

Playing tournament golf isn't taking up Norman's time as he recovers from his second knee surgery in four months, the last in February in Pittsburgh. He hopes to start hitting balls in June, then return for the slew of Champions Tour majors in July and August, sandwiched around the PGA Tour's International.

Norman and Finchem have feuded over the years, most notably from allegations that Finchem had Norman's idea of a world tour squashed, then stole it and turned it into the World Golf Championships.

But Norman claims this goes beyond that; he's concerned about the future of the tour and feels the players should have all of the information and are entitled to it.

"Am I hoping to find something wrong? No,'' he said. "I think it's just the right of every player to make their decisions on the information that you can read in the minutes of the meeting.

"I feel personally that some of the decisions made in there are probably made without all of the information being disclosed to all of the members. That's what I feel. If I'm wrong, I'll gladly say I'm wrong. I'm not on a witch hunt here. I'll fall on my sword as good as anybody if there's nothing in there.''

The tour has offered to have Norman come up with a list of questions or issues he's concerned about and then release excerpts from the minutes concerning those. "That's not the way to go about it,'' he said.

According to Norman, the tour is afraid he will go public with information in the minutes. "That's not my style,'' he said. "I wouldn't do that.''

The Norman Conquest

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John Huggan writes about the looming Norman-Finchem battle:

What follows is a tale of two citizens, Greg Norman and Tim Finchem. One is a larger-than-life character, as so many Australians seem to be; the other is a former lobbyist in Washington DC. One was a genuinely great, if flawed, golfer who, more than once, was the unfortunate victim of inexorable fate when on the verge of victory in major championships. The other, if talking incomprehensible jibberish becomes an Olympic sport, would make Mark Spitz appear a mere neophyte.

He also quotes Sean Murphy's recent comments, but mysteriously neglected to mention that the remarks were made in the comments section of this website!

Finchem's Response To Norman

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Not sure if this ran somewhere else, but the Savannah Morning News and The Examiner (Missouri?) had this response from Tim Finchem on the Greg Norman situation:

However, PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem told the Times-Union Wednesday that the information Norman, aka The Shark, is seeking is provided not only to players but to the public as well.

"We provide to the players and the public as much, if not more, than any public company provides to its stockholders," Finchem said after a joint news conference with Arnold Palmer at the Bay Hill Club and Lodge. "We choose to be more open. We follow all the procedures and report enormous amounts of data."

Norman and the Tour have butted heads before, beginning in the mid-1990s when Norman's attempt to form a series of events for the world's elite players was quashed by the Tour. The Tour later adopted some of Norman's concepts to form the four World Golf Championships events.

Finchem wouldn't talk about Norman's specific complaints. "I'm not going to argue publicly with Greg or any other player," he said.

Another Norman Flashback

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Ron Sirak writes in Golf World that he hopes Greg Norman's threatened lawsuit is not about petty vengeance.

This July, 2003 Golf Magazine interview with Peter Kessler may indicate what Greg Norman wants to know about the PGA Tour's financial dealings.

How do you think the Tour is doing these days running the business end?

I still am unhappy about it. I really don't think we know the entire story. Because when I speak to some of my business friends about certain ways the Tour operates, they say they couldn't do that in their world. It always intrigues me that they have this huge business. It is hard to be a master of everything and if you dilute yourself too much, sometimes you lose a little focus.

That is the most careful response I have ever heard from you.

When I spoke out on this at the end of last year, the message I was sending was to the 21-year-olds, not the 30- or 40-year-olds. I wanted them to think: OK, everything is great right now and your future looks fantastic, but where will you be when you are 45 or 50? Where will the Tour be? There is no business in the world that can sustain that growth curve that the PGA Tour is on. If there is a correction, how are they going to manage it?

Put your mind to it. Find out where the money is going. Find out how big the administration is. Find out what actually goes on. It is very difficult to get an answer, but if you are young enough and you ask the questions, you eventually will get the answers. It is the players' Tour. It is not one administration person's Tour. The players have every right to do all they can do to understand the internal workings.

If you were appointed commissioner for a day, which three things would you tackle first?

I would take a look at the players' pension. The retirement plan is an asset of the Tour. But let's just say there is another Ping scenario. [The company sued the Tour in 1989.] That asset is vulnerable. The Tour's so-called retirement plan goes poof. It is not a true pension plan where it is protected.

I would like to really understand the structure of the TPCs [Tournament Players Clubs], how profitable they are. I see the annual report, but it is not a full-blown, in-line report.

In all the years I have been involved in golf, I have never been asked to give my opinion. Yes, we have these forms to fill out. And we have our players meetings, our Players Advisory Council, and our player directors. That's wonderful, but still I think you need to tie into the best players because they do have some good sense. I'm talking about four or five players. The problem with the Tour is that it's one man, one vote. A vast majority of the players are happy with the security blanket instead of saying they want to build this thing to be a better, safer, longer-lasting organization.

Norman Flashback

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If you are wondering why Greg Norman is so interested in opening the PGA Tour's books, a bit of the dreaded backstory might be worth re-reading.

Here's Norman talking to Bob Verdi in the April, 2002 Golf Digest:

You went across the grain in 1994 with an idea for a world tour for the best players -- an addition to the PGA Tour -- and it blew up in your face.

Each event was to be for $3 million, for the top 40 players in the world. Start with eight events a year, building to 12 down the line. We had an agreement with Rupert Murdoch of the Fox Network for $120 million. That's what turned the sirens on at PGA Tour headquarters. That caught their attention. How did they do that? Why can't we do that? They still haven't figured it out.

Arnold Palmer and [PGA Tour Commissioner] Tim Finchem came to the Shark Shootout in 1994, my own event, to talk to the guys about this evil concept of mine. I was done. I listened to the whole spiel, sitting in the boardroom of Sherwood Country Club, and I was feeling worse and worse.

Their spin was that it was my deal, about me and for me. But we had agreed to subsidize the [PGA Tour] events we were up against. If a world-tour event went against, say, the Milwaukee Open, we would subsidize the Milwaukee Open. "You can't do that," I was told. Well, what have they got now but their own world-tour events? And what are they doing for tournaments up against them but subsidizing them?

Apparently, my bad idea wasn't such a bad idea. And as our president [of Great White Shark Enterprises], Bart Collins, says, all these other golf federations from other countries march to whatever the PGA Tour wants, like puppets.

But when you were inducted into the Hall of Fame last November, Finchem credited you with the vision for the world-golf concept.

It was sad. I wish he had never said that. Cut a guy's legs off, then give him a pair of shoes.

What took so long? In 1994, I was tarnished tremendously, being branded as someone who was trying to hurt the game of golf. It couldn't have been too strong a PGA Tour if one guy could destroy it. But Finchem knew he couldn't control it. It was all about control. So it was portrayed as a money-making scheme for Greg Norman.

I was devastated. I was angry, really angry. I didn't care about golf, and I was angry at my peers, who hung me out to dry. They said they would support the idea. But where were they? Slay the dreamer. I was alone on an island. I was the Bird Man of Alcatraz. I was a maverick.

Then, last November, Finchem says this about me at the induction. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. We were all sitting up there. I looked at Laura and Bart, and we were all amazed. What the hell was that all about? Thanks, but no thanks for the pardon.

I still haven't forgotten what he did to me, and I never will. Never, ever will I forgive Tim Finchem, and he can induct me into a Hall of Fame once a week.

What about the proposed idea of a players' union?

I took an interest in it, but I told them [the organizers] it was best for them if I wasn't on their roster. I never joined.

I could do them more harm than good, given my reputation. The PGA Tour propaganda machine did a masterful job of sweeping that under the rug, too.

But why don't we have an association as players? I've talked to Phil [Mickelson] about this. He's got a lot on the ball. But a lot of guys are content, making a handsome living. They're nonconfrontational. I'm for thinking outside the box.

And here is Norman a year ago, again talking to Verdi:

Norman is asked whether he would consider spending part of the rest of his life as commissioner of the PGA Tour.

After all, incumbent Tim Finchem, whose administration Norman frequently disparages, will retire eventually, presumably creating a vacancy for someone who has done it all--like winning 88 tournaments worldwide, presiding over a robust corporation, and rubbing elbows with business, political and entertainment icons. All while managing to remain a doting husband and father, whether at home or on a 228-foot yacht that was sold last year to Wayne Huizenga for the ungodly sum of ...

"Sorry, no financial figures," says Norman, chuckling. "Now, PGA Tour commissioner. Have I thought about it? Absolutely. Of course, have I also thought about becoming president of the United States? Yes." But there is no rule against an Australian-born multimultimillionaire becoming boss of golf's biggest league. "I understand," Norman says, "though I'd bring a completely different mind-set to what exists on the PGA Tour."

He cites a top-heavy organization that encourages a pack mentality resulting in a "quagmire" (his word). "I would love to know what really happens on the inside of the tour," Norman says, "but to do that, I would have to give up what I have here, and also give up playing, which I still love."

I guess this means we won't be seeing more of Greg on the Champions Tour?