FORMER champion Greg Norman continued to roll back the years in the second round of the 137th Open Championship at Royal Birkdale today.
Norman, winner at Turnberry in 1986 and Sandwich in 1993 but now playing more tennis than golf after marrying Chris Evert at the end of last month, carded an opening 70 to lie just one shot off the lead shared by Graeme McDowell, Rocco Mediate and Ro
bert Allenby.
The 53-year-old, who feels marrying Evert has "revitalised" his life, had pledged to keep his expectations "realistically low", but was today alone in red figures at the top of the leaderboard playing in slightly easier conditions than those which sent early scores soaring yesterday.
Norman rolled in a long birdie putt on the first and parred the next four holes before falling victim to the treacherous sixth hole, a par four measuring 499 yards playing straight into the wind and unsurprisingly ranked the toughest on the course.
The former world No.1 found heavy rough with his first two shots and was still 60 yards short of the flag in three on his way to a double bogey, but then birdied the next two holes from 25 and 20ft respectively to get back to one under.
Eight straight pars kept the veteran out in front as he went into his last two holes in superb shape.
Two Englishmen were a shot behind Norman, both Simon Wakefield and Anthony Wall picking up a shot early in their rounds.
Wakefield holed a bunker shot for birdie on the first while Wall also picked up a shot on the 450-yard par four in the more usual manner.
Sweden's Fredrik Jacobson was a shot further back after being at level par at one stage before a bogey at par-3 seventh saw him drop back to one over.
Mediate had covered the front nine in 34 with one birdie and one bogey, but then took six on the 11th after he carved his second shot into the gorse bushes and was forced to take a penalty drop. He dropped a shot at the 14th took before parring the rest of his holes to shoot a one-over 71 and set the clubhouse lead at two over.
Allenby was slipping quietly back down the field with three bogeys in seven holes, while McDowell – who led after the first round at Hoylake in 2006 – joined him at three over.
Frenchman Jean van de Velde had earlier set the clubhouse target at four over with a 71.
Van de Velde, who famously blew a three-shot lead on the final hole at Carnoustie in 1999, could have set an even stiffer target after going out in 32, but had just one more birdie and two double bogeys on the back nine.
Title favourite Sergio Garcia was nicely placed on two over – level par for the day – after seven holes.
The Spaniard bogeyed the opening hole but bounced back with a birdie at the par-3 fourth before carding three pars.
Garcia's countryman Miguel-Angel Jimenez's hopes took a severe blow as he dropped five shots in his opening five holes, including a double-bogey six at the fifth. Another double bogey at the eight took him to ten over par and almost certain to miss the cut.
Scotland's Paul Lawrie won't be involved over the weekend, as three bogeys on the trot – from 14 to 16 – killed the Aberdonian's hopes as he carded a 73 for ten over par.
At the bottom of the pile were Ireland's Philip Walton and England's Steve Webster, who hit 82 and 80 respectively today for a massive 19-over-par total.
Among those still to tee off were Ian Poulter, who carded a two-over 72 yesterday, and Scotland's Colin Montgomerie, a shot behind the Englishman. Major winners Retief Goosen and Mike Weir were also waiting to start, the South African and the Canadian both on one over.
World No.2 Phil Mickelson and former winner Ernie Els, two of the favourites to profit from the absence of Tiger Woods, fell victim to the conditions early yesterday, carding rounds of 79 and 80 respectively to finish well off the pace.
Mickelson admitted it would take something "pretty cool" for him to get back into contention, but that could prove difficult given the weather forecast.
The full article contains 737 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
