Born in 1955, Gregory John Norman is an Australian professional golfer and entrepreneur with 331 weeks ranking first on the Official World Golf Rankings in the 1980s and 1990s.
Known as The Great White Shark, he has won 91 international tournaments, including 20 PGA Tour tournaments and two majors namely The Open Championships in 1986 and 1993.
Norman has worked in Vietnam for 12 years. His company Greg Norman Golf Course Design has opened a number of golf courses, most notably The Bluff Ho Tram Strip in Ba Ria-Vung Tau province. The third one called KN Golf Links opened for play a few days ago.
In taking over the ambassador post, he has designed a specific action plan that covers writing articles and making videos to promote Vietnam’s golf courses at home and abroad. Norman also intends to bring international golf events and tournaments to Vietnam.
According to Vietnam's Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Ngoc Thien, the appointment of Gregory John Norman as a tourism ambassador aims to acknowledge his contributions to Vietnam.
With a favourable geographic position, rich natural resources and beautiful landscapes, Vietnam has many good golf courses. Thien hopes that the ambassador will help Vietnam become a high-profile destination on the global golf map.
Earlier, Vietnam had some other tourism ambassadors, including actress Ly Nha Ky, Vietnam's first ambassador for tourism; world-famous chef Bobby Chinn, a tourism ambassador for Vietnam in Europe; Anoa Suzanne Dussol Perran, a Vietnamese tourism ambassador to France for 2015 – 2018 tenure; Hollywood film director Jordan Vogt-Roberts, the first foreign director to become Vietnam’s tourism ambassador; and Ly Xuong Can, Vietnam’s tourism ambassador to South Korea.
