Shark hits town to build golf course

MANILA, Philippines - Greg Norman has 91 career victories tucked under his belt, and he’s fast catching up with that number as far as the golf courses he has designed are concerned.

“I have 91 victories and I’ve designed like 78 or 80 golf courses. So, yeah, I need a few more,” said the 57-year-old also known as the “Great White Shark.”

Norman, winner of two British Open titles (1986 and 1993), came to town yesterday afternoon for another golf course he’s been tapped to design.

It’s one in Dapitan in Zamboanga, at the picturesque Dakak beach resort. It’s not the first for Norman in the Philippines, but it’s the first in Mindanao.

Norman has been so successful since he put up his firm, the Greg Norman Golf Course Design or GNGCD in 1987. And there’s no stopping him.

“Golf has given me the opportunity and I love it. It’s been a great journey,” he said in an exclusive press conference at the Makati Shangri-La.

“But every golf course we design is different because it has a lot to do with the environment. We make sure every course is different.”

“The place is beautiful,” said Dan Grassi, senior director of GNGCD projects for Middle East and Asia.