Interview: Greg Norman, golfer

• Greg Norman, seen here in a photoshoot from his Johnnie Walker blue Label partnership, has had successful careers in golf and in business

It would have been different, no doubt, if he'd been reminded of that painful experience at Augusta National but the second the Australian turned round - he was using every spare second during a jam-packed schedule to sign those bottles of Johnnie Walker Blue Label Whisky - and flashed the smile that has lit up golf courses around the globe for more than 30 years, it was impossible to feel on edge in the slightest.

Maybe his relaxed demeanour was helped by the fact he feels so at home in Scotland. On his first visit, in 1977, he not only recorded his first European Tour victory in the Martini International at Blairgowrie, but, just as important to him, also struck a relationship with the paying public that remains firmly intact to this day. "I was really excited about coming to Europe," he recalls. "I wanted to get my grounding more playing over here - both from a golf standpoint and a cultural one, too. (At Blairgowrie] the one thing that really struck me was the acceptance of the Scottish crowd. They embraced me immediately."

Nine years later, by which time the handsome Norman had blossomed into one of the world's leading players - he was ranked No 1 for 331 weeks at the peak of his career - his love affair with Scotland intensified after winning the Open Championship at Turnberry, a success he repeated in 1993 at Royal St George's. Norman is a member of Skibo Castle and recalled, gleefully, some happy memories at Gleneagles during his return to the plush Perthshire resort earlier this week.

"I love the Kings Course. I remember having a great exhibition match here with Tom Watson, Sean Connery and Jimmy Tarbuck. Both Tom and I nearly drove the 18th green that day," says the 'Great White Shark' - a moniker coined by a hack when Norman, the blond-haired new kid on the block with an aggressive style of play who used to swim and dive with the sharks was leading The Masters in 1981. "He outdrove me by four yards and still reminds me of that, even though I drove it more than 480 yards. I've had a lot of wonderful times here. There's a mystical feel about Scotland. My affinity for this part of the world is very strong."

On this particular day at Gleneagles, Norman is the sole celebrity in attendance (well, as far as I was aware anyway). Afternoon tea is being served amidst the hubbub in the lounge next door but the 55-year-old is more interested in getting his glistening white teeth into matters such as the forthcoming Ryder Cup. He'd just flown in from playing in the Omega European Masters in Switzerland, where it had been well nigh impossible to escape all the gossiping that was going on in the wake of Colin Montgomerie's three wild card picks for the match in Wales.

"Interesting choices," notes Norman, who will captain the International Team for the second Presidents Cup in a row at Royal Melbourne next year. "But, no matter who you choose, you're always going to get people throwing darts at you for making the wrong choices. Monty had to make his decisions on what he felt was right. Sometimes it is not necessarily pure and simply for their play. It can also be for their chemistry and relationship with other players."

In the eyes of many, Padraig Harrington was lucky to be handed one of those spots. Yet, based on what he saw at close-quarters when playing with the Irishman in the final round of his 2008 Open Championship win at Royal Birkdale, Norman reckons Harrington deserves his place at Celtic Manor. "Padraig is a consumate professional and always has been," he opines. "His focus and discipline to execute things at the highest level is amazing. I still think the second shot he hit in at the 71st hole at Birkdale is one of the top three shots I've ever seen in my life. It was a gutsy shot off the lie he had and the howling wind coming left to right. But that's the character of the guy. He's gone through a lean spell, of course, and that made it an interesting choice."

Norman finds it interesting that Sandy Lyle has, so far at least, been overlooked for the captaincy - "I don't know the criteria for selection over here but it's a surprise given he's been a major winner, has supported European golf so well and is an iconic player who's done wonders for the game" - but, in Colin Montgomerie, he has no doubt the Europeans have the right man in charge for their attempt to win back the Ryder Cup in three weeks' time. "I think he understands what the Ryder Cup is all about," says the man who, with 91 professional titles to his name, certainly knew what winning was all about. "He's been a great ingredient of the success and growth of the Ryder Cup in Europe. I'm sure the players look up to him because of the way he has played and performed. He's a tenacious player. As a captain, I think he is going to garner a lot of respect."

He also believes the Scot has pulled off a masterstroke by adding Sergio Garcia to his backroom team. Norman became close to the Spaniard when he was dating his daughter, Morgan-leigh, and is hoping his involvement in Wales will help him get over their split, something that is believed to have played its part in the dramatic form slump suffered by the one-time golden boy of European golf. "I think that was the best choice Monty made, actually. Sergio is the type of guy who is passionate about winning and passionate about Europe. It is great for Sergio because I know he's been down in the dumps and his game hasn't been where it should be. He is great for the game of golf. He's got character and charm and is one of the few players who can put bums on seats - you need guys like that. Everyone of us has gone through a down time but he'll be back."

So, too, he says will Tiger Woods. As confidently predicted by Norman - Corey Pavin's announcement was being made the following day - the world No 1 will also be at Celtic Manor despite all the upheaval in his life over the past ten months or so. Norman knows what it's like to have gone through a high-profile divorce. It cost him an estimated $100 million when he split from his wife of over a quarter of a century, Laura. Then, earlier this year, after just 15 months of marriage, he separated from tennis legend Chris Evert, who had supported him so enthusiastically when he turned back the clock in the aforementioned Open Championship at Royal Birkdale a little over two years ago.

"I think the one question mark over Tiger for a wild card wasn't his performance on the golf course but the connection off it in the team room. There's probably still some sensitive residue lying around but I couldn't see how Corey Pavin could not pick him, especially at a time when he'd just shot three rounds in the 60s (in the Deutsche Bank Championship]," comments Norman. "He's trying to re-jig his swing with a new coach and with each day that goes by his confidence is going to get better and better. You can't say to the world No 1, 'hey, you're not on the Ryder Cup team', and I don't care how bad you are playing.

"The pundits should sit back and be quiet and leave him alone. Yes, he feathered his own nest and created his own problems. Tiger now has to go through new learning curves in a lot of ways because he never had any naysayers his whole life, he's had nothing but admirers. The intimidation factor has been melted away a lot because he's shown that he's a human being and can break down like anyone else can. He has to re-invent himself to a degree, both in his golf swing and in his private life. He's not married any more but still has children to worry about.

"His legacy, unfortunately, will be created not by the number of majors he won but what happened in 2009-10. Cyberspace is a killer. No matter what you do it is there. Someone can just google 'TW' and there it all is. He's got to try and live with that. But time is a great healer. He'll be back. And, as a player, he's got a stronger wherewithal than probably any other player I have ever seen. He's determined, he wants it and will go and get it. However, I don't think the record of 18 majors (held by Jack Nicklaus] is a sure thing any more. As he gets older, the kids are getting younger. And they are not intimidated by him any more."

A high-flyer all his life - he once spent $40 million to buy a Boeing 747 and, a year or so later, splashed out $70 million on a 285-foot yacht with seven auxiliary boats and a $1 million home theatre - Norman admits those young kids led him to put his own playing career into perspective a long time ago. While he enjoyed the thrill of challenging for the Claret Jug again in 2008 and knows the world's oldest major is returning to Royal St George's next year, he takes a realistic view when asked about his own future and says Montgomerie will need to do likewise after his Ryder Cup captaincy is over. "I'd like to think there is (one big effort left in me]. But I always speak the truth and I'm a realist, too. You get to the point where the rubber meets the road in the realisation of your game and Monty will discover that, too. For me to get back to somewhere close - maybe 65-70 per cent of where I used to play - I'd have to practice every day between now and next July. Do I want to do that? Absolutely not. Will my body allow me to do that? Absolutely not. You really don't want to be a ceremonial golfer, even though there are times when you play in certain events, as I'll do in the Australian Open later in the year. There are events that have a lot of meaning in your heart and you want to play in them. But to put a stake in the ground and say you can win that event is a big comment to make, especially as you are getting older."

In truth, he doesn't need to pick up a golf club at all anymore. He's admired equally as a sportsman and businessman, having become a hugely-successful athlete-turned-entrepreneur. Regular golfers will be well aware of the Greg Norman Collection, a range of clothing that bears his shark emblem, while some will also have played on the raft of courses he's designed all over the world, including his renowned Doonbeg in Ireland and, at Jumeirah Golf Estates in Dubai, the relatively new Earth and Fire layouts. He's not alone in the golf world for having his own wine label, but few others have a restaurant bearing their name - his is on the waterfront at Myrtle Beach - and, moreover, have that on a range of prime Australian steak. Norman also has his own golf foundation - Adam Scott and Karrie Webb are among the players that have come through its ranks over the past 20 years - and through that recently launched a junior development in China, the country he says is going to change the face of golf beyond all recognition over the next couple of decades.

"I'm so glad to see the pendulum swinging back to where international and European golf is at strength again," he declares when asked about the major successes recorded over the past few months by Graeme McDowell, Louis Oosthuizen and Martin Kaymer. "It makes me feel really good. It is good for America, too. Woods and [Phil] Mickelson have been carrying the stars and stripes on a global basis for golf but when you go deeper it's a bit of an effort. It's a wake-up call for America. It is also going through that wake-up call in tennis right now. Since [Andre] Agassi and [Pete] Sampras no-one has really stepped up to the plate. It is so good to see the might of European golf coming through.

"These kids are just as good as Woods or Mickelson but they don't get the recognition and media attention they do. The Molinaris of the world are fantastic, as is Rory McIlroy. There's also a fantastic balance of youth and experience in Europe right now, as Miguel [Angel Jimenez] showed when he won the Omega at the age of 47. Where I think it will change dramatically in 20 years time is that the west will be overtaken by the east. The might of China hasn't come through yet. We are starting to see it transform with the Koreans but just wait until China gets its 30 million golfers - the western world will have no chance."