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New York - He may be the one nicknamed the Great White Shark, but it is Greg Norman's wife who has proved to possess the sharpest teeth in the couple's acrimonious divorce battle, biting a US$100 million ($130 million) chunk out of the golfing legend's fortune.
After a bitter one-year battle, the two-times Open championship winner agreed to the settlement - one of sport's largest - to spare his new girlfriend, tennis star Chris Evert, an embarrassing appearance in a Florida courtroom.
Norman had been resisting demands that he split his US$300 million fortune equally with his wife of 25 years. But that all changed when lawyers for Laura Norman threatened to drag Evert into court, demanding to see details of gifts the Wimbledon winner was given by Norman and details of trips she took in his private jet.
Evert had been a friend and neighbour of the Normans in Florida, and she has been publicly stepping out with the golfer since her own divorce last year.
On a trip to Australia, where he is surveying an outpost of his real estate-to-clothing business empire, Norman tried to appear philosophical. "Nobody likes to go through what I've gone through, but that's life and it's over," he said. "The terms have been agreed to; let's move on."
His assets had included a US$35 million mansion in Florida's celebrity haven, Jupiter Island, a personal jet, a helicopter and a 70m yacht, as well as business interests that include designing golf courses, golf-themed gated communities for the well-to-do, vineyards and a popular sports clothing range.
Laura Norman said she had been instrumental in helping her husband leverage his fame in these business ventures, serving on the boards of his companies until just last year, giving her a claim to over half his assets. At the same time, she brought up the couple's two children, Morgan-Leigh, 24, and Gregory, 20.
But in legal papers Norman dismissed his wife's contribution to his fortune, in terms that appeared calculatedly scathing.
"The wife did not teach the husband how to swing a golf club. The wife did not teach the husband how to win. The golf swing and the success as a professional golfer which the husband brought into this marriage opened commercial doors during the course of this marriage which would otherwise not have been available."
What at first looked to be an amicable divorce turned nasty after pictures of Norman and Evert holding hands appeared in newspapers.
Laura Norman was in court in Stuart, Florida, to hear the settlement being approved, after which she donned her Chanel sunglasses and hit the shops with a friend. Her lawyer, Jack Scarola, added: "She's very appreciative of the fact she has had a great deal of support from the public."
Last year, Evert divorced downhill ski champion Andy Mill, whom she married in 1988, paying a reputed US$7 million. They have three adolescent boys.
- INDEPENDENT
