australia Norman Closes His Australian Shop

Greg Norman Golf Course Design has closed its office in Sydney, Australia.

"The closure of the golf course design office," writes Nick Tabakoff of the Daily Telegraph, "signals that Norman's company no longer sees Australia as its key Asia-Pacific hub."

The empire's new Asia-Pacific hub is China, where Greg Norman, the conglomerate's legendary boss, has spent considerable time over the past year or so. Great White Shark Enterprises recently opened a sales and marketing office in Beijing.

As of Wednesday night, the news about the shut-down in Sydney hadn't yet been posted on Norman's website, shark.com, where a nice collection of men's polo shirts and jackets are on sale at 50 percent off. The website still prominently lists the Sydney office as one of its design centers.

Practically speaking, the downsizing means that Norman has said good-bye to Harley Kruse, one of his longtime (10 years) Australian designers, and two other staffers. Last year, Norman cut his ties with Bob Harrison, who'd been on the payroll for 22 years.

All of Norman's designers will now operate out of the company's office West Palm Beach, Florida.

The news comes just days after Norman received a "lifetime achievement award" at the KPMG Golf Business Forum in Belek, Turkey. Though he's closed his design office, Norman continues to operate a beef export business and a wine-related enterprise in Australia.

Here's a link to "The Shark Greg Norman Chases the Golf Dollar in Asia."