The Week That Was, february 28, 2016

     Greg “the Living Brand” Norman often brags about his business acumen, but is Great White Shark Enterprises underperforming? Golf World reports that Norman is “trying to rejuvenate” his company with a group of new staffers, and he intends to introduce a new company -- one that will be “a game changer” -- sometime this summer. The golf industry expects nothing less, especially now that the always modest celebrity architect has described the new hires as “younger, energetic personnel that are visionaries, like I am.”

     It appears that part of Great White Shark Enterprise’s makeover will include legal fees. Greg Norman has fired and sued his corporate attorney and chief financial officer for allegedly “copying and deleting proprietary, confidential, and trade secret information.” Norman’s aim: He wants to ensure that Jack Schneider, who reportedly worked for GWSE for 14 years, to promise that he’ll never use whatever knowledge he’s gleaned about the company. And here’s an interesting side note: The lawsuit says that Schneider was fired for “blatant disregard of his duties,” “insubordination,” and “other gross failures.” It’s worth noting that those can be serious charges when they’re leveled against a CFO.

     Donald “the Candidate” Trump has officially received a vote of no confidence from the R&A. For the time being, at least, the golf industry’s most self-righteous institutional power has formally passed on an opportunity to award the Open Championship to Trump Turnberry anytime before 2022 at the earliest. The decision is a slap in the face for Trump, who acquired the historic Scottish resort in part because it’s long held a spot in the Open rotation and promised to help him realize his greatest golf dream, which is to host a major championship. Martin “Golden” Slumbers, the R&A’s CEO, avoided discussing the snub in much detail and didn’t raise the specter of a permanent ban, but in a conversation with reporters he noted that his organization is “very focused on the macro-environment” and believes that golf “should be open to all regardless of gender, race, nationality, or religion.”

     Pacific Links International is about to lighten its golf portfolio. The Chinese/Canadian company’s Hawaiian subsidiary has agreed to sell Olomana Golf Links, an 18-hole track on O’ahu, to a freshly minted entity called JNC USA, Inc. JNC USA is led by Jim Hwang, who’s reportedly been involved in golf development -- for IMG Golf, it appears -- in Japan, South Korea, and Vietnam. Neither the buyer nor the seller has revealed the sales price, but the transaction is expected to close next month. Olomana features a Bob Baldock-designed course that opened in the late 1960s. If the sale goes through, the 130-acre layout will be the second course on O’ahu that PLI has sold in the past year. In March 2015, it sold Kapolei Golf Course to Daito U.S., Inc., an affiliate of a Japanese company.

     Is Steve Wynn thinking about getting out of the golf business? A columnist for the Las Vegas Review-Journal, working off a tip from Siegfried & Roy (no, I’m not making this up) reports that Wynn is looking to build a 1,000-room hotel, a convention center, and a lake on property currently occupied by Wynn Golf Club. For its part, Wynn Resorts admits only that it’s “studying an expansion of the golf course.” Assuming that Wynn’s board okays the venture, however, the loss would be significant, as the track -- it’s the former Desert Inn Golf Course -- was redesigned by Tom Fazio, who rarely, if ever, loses any of his work.