‘Great White Shark’ tees up Aussie PM’s call to Prez-elect
Sydney, Nov. 17: Sports legend Greg Norman was pivotal in helping Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull become one of the first world leaders to touch base with his golfing buddy Donald Trump, it emerged on Thursday.
Mr Turnbull spoke to the tycoon soon after his surprise victory in the US election last week describing the billionaire as a dealmaker who would “view the world in a very practical and pragmatic way”.
His office confirmed to AFP a Sydney Daily Telegraph report that Norman, known as the “Great White Shark”, gave Australia’s ambassador to the US a phone number “closely linked to Mr Trump”.
The spokesman would not confirm it was the Republican’s mobile number, as reported by the newspaper, which said Mr Turnbull was the second world leader to reach Mr Trump after his shock win.
Mr Turnbull refused to say how Norman facilitated the call, but said the golfer was a “great advocate for strengthening the Australian-American alliance”.
“He has been a great help... He wants Australia to succeed, America to succeed and, if we both succeed, that’ll be good for the world too,” he told reporters.
Norman, who often plays golf with Trump, wrote in Newsweek on Tuesday that he had spoken to Mr Turnbull “and he is onboard with wanting to see President-elect Trump succeed”.
Mr Trump’s aides on Wednesday released a list of 29 foreign leaders and dignitaries he had spoken to after a report by the New York Times that the transition was in disarray.
The newspaper said offices of foreign leaders were blindly dialling in to Trump Tower where the real estate developer has been holed up as they scrambled to reach him on the phone.