I’ve been lucky. Prior to my arrival in Danang, the word from the organizers was that Norman has an especially packed schedule and my time with him will be limited. Five minutes is pretty much all I can expect. The press conference is over and I lurk with intent, hoping to grab the two-time Open champion-turned fabulously successful entrepreneur (and this year’s Presidents Cup captain) before our allotted interview schedule in order to get as much out of him as possible.
As it happens, I needn’t have worried. Norman, now 56, recognizes me from a question I’d asked in the “presser” and wanders over and announces himself with a cheery “Hi Charles.” I’m impressed, not to mention delighted. We start to talk as we stroll leisurely through the development, taking in a quick tour around the show house.
Norman is all too happy to chat. Throughout the interview I keep expecting him to turn the topic of discussion away from his career and his fantastic Dunes Course at the Danang Golf Club to this super new real estate component – the Norman Estates. After all, it’s the reason he’s here.
But he doesn’t, which is good for me because as lovely as these residences are (the three to five-bedroom villas, each with their own pool, range in price from US$800,000 to a rather more hefty US$2 million), it’s golf, rather than real estate, that’s my priority.
We end up spending some 30 minutes together (and enjoy a beer at pre-dinner cocktails later in the evening) and Norman is great company, much more personable and engaging than I was expecting. He’s clearly at a time in his life when he can be rather more cavalier in his question answering than in the past, as his thoughts on the state of the PGA Tour and Tiger Woods below would seem to indicate, and for that I am very thankful …
