--- title: Malcolm Turnbull Got Donald Trump's Phone Number From Golfer description: Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull was the second world leader to congratulate Donald Trump canonical: https://time.com/4574675/malcolm-turnbull-donald-trump-greg-norman/ author: Julia Zorthian article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-11-17T14:42:06.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:45:17.332Z article:section: Politics og:title: Australia's Prime Minister Got Trump's Phone Number From a Golfing Buddy og:description: "Life is full of networks." og:url: https://time.com/4574675/malcolm-turnbull-donald-trump-greg-norman/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd4b826e56b838fd4/6988aee0bc6cfc476c3df5b3/greg-normal-malcolm-turnbull-donald-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: greg normal malcolm turnbull donald trump og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Australia's Prime Minister Got Trump's Phone Number From a Golfing Buddy twitter:description: "Life is full of networks." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd4b826e56b838fd4/6988aee0bc6cfc476c3df5b3/greg-normal-malcolm-turnbull-donald-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Australia's Prime Minister Got Donald Trump's Phone Number From a Golfing Buddy > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Julia Zorthian](https://time.com/author/julia-zorthian/)  ## Julia Zorthian Nov 17, 2016 2:42 PM UTC  TURNBERRY, SCOTLAND - JULY 27: Greg Norman of Australia in action on the 6th green during the second round of the Senior Open Championship played over the Ailsa Course on July 27, 2012 in Turnberry, United Kingdom. (Photo by Phil Inglis/Getty Images) TURNBERRY, SCOTLAND - JULY 27: Greg Norman of Australia in action on the 6th green during the second round of the Senior Open Championship played over the Ailsa Course on July 27, 2012 in Turnberry, United Kingdom. (Photo by Phil Inglis/Getty Images) Phil Inglis—Getty Images  by [Julia Zorthian](https://time.com/author/julia-zorthian/)  ## Julia Zorthian Nov 17, 2016 2:42 PM UTC Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull was the second world leader [to congratulate ](http://www.news.com.au/finance/work/leaders/greg-norman-and-donald-trumps-surprising-friendship/news-story/70af80efbf208a3b6b214e85d46c70a1)Donald Trump after asking one of Trump’s mates for the President-elect’s cellphone number. Professional Australian [golfer Greg Norman](http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,968968,00.html), who now lives in Florida, has grown close to Trump over the past decade or so. Turnbull’s office confirmed that Australia’s U.S. ambassador Joe Hockey asked Norman for Trump’s number so that Turnbull could call immediately, News.com.au reports. “In diplomacy and policies, you use lots of networks,” Turnbull [told the _Australian_](http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/shark-helps-pm-reach-trump/news-story/b01cab7142c3c6a3efff497d9ffa9c6e) when asked why he didn’t already have Trump’s number. “All I can say is we have great networks, great connections and Greg Norman is a great Australian…Life is full of networks.” For his part, Norman was happy to perform this service for his home country. “I have great respect for both men who have been voted in by the people of their respective countries and I am fortunate enough to call Mr Trump a friend, so I was happy to put them in touch to further the incredible longstanding relationship the two countries have experienced,” Norman [said](http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/shark-helps-pm-reach-trump/news-story/b01cab7142c3c6a3efff497d9ffa9c6e), The _Australian_ reports. \[[_The Australian_](http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/shark-helps-pm-reach-trump/news-story/b01cab7142c3c6a3efff497d9ffa9c6e)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4574675/malcolm-turnbull-donald-trump-greg-norman/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4574675/malcolm-turnbull-donald-trump-greg-norman/"},"headline":"Australia's Prime Minister Got Donald Trump's Phone Number From a Golfing Buddy","datePublished":"2016-11-17T14:42:06.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:45:17.332Z","description":"\"Life is full of networks\"","url":"https://time.com/4574675/malcolm-turnbull-donald-trump-greg-norman/","keywords":["Donald Trump","2016 Election"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd4b826e56b838fd4/6988aee0bc6cfc476c3df5b3/greg-normal-malcolm-turnbull-donald-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Julia Zorthian","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/julia-zorthian/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd4b826e56b838fd4/6988aee0bc6cfc476c3df5b3/greg-normal-malcolm-turnbull-donald-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"greg normal malcolm turnbull donald trump","caption":"greg normal malcolm turnbull donald trump","creditText":"Phil Inglis—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4574675/malcolm-turnbull-donald-trump-greg-norman/","name":"Australia's Prime Minister Got Donald Trump's Phone Number From a Golfing Buddy"}}]}] ```