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Greg Norman's $129 million move to return to Australia

Golfing legend Greg Norman has made more than $120 million after selling to luxury properties in preparation to return to Australia. Picture: Instagram
Golfing legend Greg Norman has made more than $120 million after selling to luxury properties in preparation to return to Australia. Picture: Instagram

Golfing icon Greg Norman doesn't plan to stop working once he completes his move back home to Australia, but the 66-year-old has admitted it's time for him to slow down a little bit.

The Australian sporting great has made a habit of making headlines over the last few months thanks to an increasingly tongue-in-cheek social media presence, and now Norman has revealed his plans to bring his antics back home.

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After building a wildly successful business empire believed to have boosted his net worth to more than $400 million, the affable golfer told the Weekend Australian he's looking to scale things back before returning home.

Norman has previously opened up about plans to downsize his business empire to around half a dozen ventures from the 13 businesses he currently operates, saying he felt he no longer needed the money.

After he and wife Kiki found buyers for their $77 million home in Florida, which Norman built himself, as well as a compound in Colorado worth roughly $52 million, the 'Shark' said he was keen to return home.

“I will be home,” Norman said.

“I made some moves in the last six months over here in the United States that give me the flexibility to be able to do what I need to do.

“It is not as easy as coming home tomorrow and saying I will see you there. I have a business, I have a lot of things I have to work around to get there.

“I actually want to spend my final days on this earth in Australia. It’s not morbid — trust me, I am going to live to 115.

“I still have a lot of time in my life to enjoy parts of Australia that I have been and seen.”

Norman, a prominent supporter of former US President Donald Trump, was hospitalised earlier in the year after contracting the coronavirus.

His experience with the virus, as well as living so far from friends and family, were what motivated Norman to return to Australia, he told the Miami Herald.

“COVID-19 and the whole pandemic experience, with social distancing and being isolated from our families — most of whom live overseas — this past year has made us realise how short life truly is and has caused us to re-evaluate how and where we want to spend the rest of our lives,” he said.

Greg Norman opens up on secret family heartache

Norman earlier this year revealed the "rift" that his decision to become a professional golfer created with his father.

The Aussie golf legend opened up on his relationship with his 94-year-old father Mervyn on the 'Four Courses' podcast.

The 66-year-old revealed that Mervyn told him he'd never make it as a professional golfer, instead advising Norman to pursue a career in business.

“My dad never thought I’d be the golfer I became,” Norman said.

“He wanted me to be either in his engineering business or be a scholar or go on and do something else in the business world.

“We had a little bit of angst about it all when I told him - ‘Hey, I’m going to turn professional and I’m going to be an assistant pro and in three years’ time I’m going to play the tour.

“He’s looking at me like, ‘Are you crazy, you’re not good enough to do that, nobody in our family has been a professional sportsman or woman’.”

Greg Norman has been downsizing his multi-million dollar business empire as he prepares to move home to Australia. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)
Greg Norman has been downsizing his multi-million dollar business empire as he prepares to move home to Australia. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)

Norman said the pair fell out for a period when he decided golf was his desired path.

“I walked away from a career. My father wasn’t impressed,” Norman said previously.

“He didn’t know whether I’d be any good at the game of golf. Nobody did. They just had to accept it. They could see my commitment was second to none.

“It created a rift between my dad and myself. There’s no question about it.

“My dad was a professional. He had his own business and he was hoping I would go into the business. Follow in his footsteps, which every father would want.

“At the end of the day, we kind of separated a little bit. It just created a little bit of tension in there. Now it’s totally different.”

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