Norman Remembers Kerry Packer

Greg Norman learned a lot from Kerry Packer both on and off the golf course

By Peter Stone
Sydney Morning Herald
December 30, 2005

Greg Norman doesn't say it, but he and Kerry Packer werekindred spirits. They were both tough minded and they both had a desire tobe the best. So it was with great sadness that Norman greeted the news thathis mentor in the business world passed away earlier this week.

They were poles apart when it came to drinking andgambling, Packer legendary when it came to the punt in the casinos and onthe racetracks of the world, while Norman's only flutter was on a game ofgolf. Norman drinks, loves his beer and fine wines, Packer became ateetotaler. Yet the affinity was there, they both loved a solid argument,neither liked to lose.

Norman chats with Kerry Packer at The Australian in 1990.

"I love Kerry Packer," Norman told the Herald via hismobile phone while driving through the mountains of Colorado yesterdaywhere he and his family are spending time at their holiday ranch for theChristmas/New Year period. It was the present tense in which he spoke, asthough Packer were still alive. To Norman, and others nearest and dearest,he surely always will be.

The Shark played in the "Packer" Australian Opens at TheAustralian from 1975 to 1978, but never really got to know the big man ofAustralian business -- "Hello, Mr. Packer, Hello Greg," was about all itamounted to.

He got to know Packer in 1984 when Packer sponsored askins game at The Australian in which Norman, Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson andSeve Ballesteros participated. Norman was the new kid on the block, theAustralian yet to win a major against the trio who had 28 majors betweenthem.

"I really met him that week, starting with the tournamentdinner," Norman said. "We found we could talk without fear or favor. He wasbrutally honest and he wanted to be treated the same way by those with whomhe came into contact. I designed his [private] course [Ellerston at Scone]and we had wonderful dialogue along the way. He wanted it this way, and I'dsay, 'No, we can't do it that way. We had many an argument, but we did itmy way."

They never actually became business partners in anyventure, but each was there for the other. In 2002, Norman's first golfcourse design in Ireland -- Doonbeg -- was officially opened and among theclub's advisory board was Packer, along with a former US Congressman, JimAwtrey, former CEO of the PGA of America, a former US ambassador to Irelandand a heavyweight list of American corporate types.

"Once I was talking with Kerry and he said, 'Greg, youhave something I'll never have.' It startled me. 'What do you mean?'

"You are No.1 in the world, and I'll never be No.1.' Ithought, 'Wow, such admiration from a man of Kerry Packer's stature'."

It was in the mid-1980s that Norman received a businessoffer, to be the figurehead for a business entrepreneur with a good idea.He called Packer and set up a meeting in his ACP office to bounce it offhim. Packer listened, and then replied, "Son, you keep out of my businessand I'll keep out of your business."

Norman was with IMG, after a split with his firstmanager, Englishman James Marshall, and several years later he did thenumbers about how much he was making for the worldwide company founded bythe late Mark McCormack and decided enough was enough. He formed his GreatWhite Shark Enterprises in the 1990s, and he is now Australia's richestsportsman because of it.

"I have numerous conversations with Kerry aboutbusiness," Norman said. "He's been very, very helpful in situations likethat and if you're ever going to go into business you want to get all yourchecks and balances done. Absolutely [I owe him]. I always praise himbecause he's always been there. I can pick up the phone and get Kerry. Inormally speak to him every two months.

"Three weeks ago, four weeks ago, when I was in Australiawe organized to have lunch when I'm down there in a couple of weeks, to sitdown and talk about stuff. We do that all the time. Kerry is just very openand about being there for me, just as he is for the cricketers and all theother sportsmen and women. He's been great to everyone like that."

Such was their friendship that Norman often stayed withPacker at his Sydney mansion, borrowed the Packer jet before he purchasedhis own, and Packer would visit Norman in Florida.

The game of golf brought them together, as it does withstrangers the world over, and now a part of Norman's life is missing withthe passing of Kerry Packer.