Watson leaves Norman in his wake

AS AN unusually tricky south-easterly wind, which gusted up to 18mph, complicated the challenge on a sun-kissed morning at the £1 million Senior Open, the sense of enchantment which cosseted Greg Norman at Royal Birkdale in the Open the previous week deserted the golfer over the front nine in Ayrshire yesterday like a broken spell.

The opening holes at Troon are among the gentlest introduction to championship golf on the British linksland. But a combination of testing wind and mental exhaustion stretched the Shark's patience as he carded two bogeys in the first three holes and five before the turn. After the ebullience of Southport, reaching the turn in 41 blows was as much of a shock to the galleries as it was to Norman himself.

As Sandy Lyle noted: "Greg seemed weary early on. When you get off to a poor start, it's easy to lose the rag a little bit. But he knuckled down and played well over the closing stretch."

With a £150m business empire to run, Norman, who was six par over after ten holes but fought back to sign for 75, more closely resembled a part-time golfer than he'd done at any point at Birkdale.

"I got off to a poor start and had to say to myself, just be patient and try to get one or two strokes back here and there," he recalled. "In all the times I've played Troon, I've never really played the golf course in this wind before. When I got to the first tee I thought, 'Okay, now I know I'm here.' It was an interesting adjustment for me and I just didn't capture (the feel of] the course quickly enough.

"To tell you the truth, I didn't have a lot of confidence over my tee-shots. I was just trying to be patient. It's like any situation of this kind: you just hang in there and hope you can pick up one or two shots along the way. I'm four over par, but thankfully, there's more than one round in a golf tournament."

While Norman was still debating yesterday what answer to give the PGA of America today after they invited him to tee up at the last major of the season, the only topic on Tom Watson's mind over dinner last night was continuing the vein of form which helped him locate 18 greens in regulation. "How about that," he grinned. "I've never done that before. I've putted for 18 birdies before, but I don't think I've ever hit 18 greens."

With the crowds following this match more akin to the numbers who attend a regular tour event rather than an over-50s championship, Watson made the point that name recognition among spectators is probably greater on the senior circuit these days. That was certainly true of a pairing which included Lyle as well as Watson and Norman.

Watson reeled off nine pars in a testing breeze with the aplomb of a man who has already won seven of his 13 regular and senior majors at the home of golf. For aficionados, there was a 4 iron launched to the ninth green of such purity that it deserved better than two putts for par from 12 feet.

"That was the best shot I hit," Watson smiled, when reminded of that soaring long iron. "The holes from 8 to 11, those are the ones you're going to have to play well to win this tournament. That's where I really focused."

Watson felt experience counted for something in combating the breeze. When the wind is as strong as it was at Birkdale last week, he thinks the course "takes a lot more from you than it gives". Yesterday was different, as long as you kept clear of trouble.

No one was more impressed by Watson's haul of 17 pars and one birdie than his Scottish playing companion. "Tom was very impressive," admired Lyle. "He's Mr Consistency these days and had his usual round."

As to his own play, Lyle lost the plot in the middle of the round when successive double bogeys at the ninth and tenth set him back on his heels. On both occasions his tee shots flew left.

"From there on, it got tidier," he reported. "I didn't think the tee boxes needed to be moved forward, because with the way the wind was blowing, it was fine."

After making three birdies over the last four holes, including hitting a 9 iron 210 yards to the par 3 17th which made him feel like Tiger Woods, Lyle, who posted 75, was asked if it had been a more pleasurable morning's golf than the previous week at Birkdale when he walked off after ten holes. "What do you think?" he smiled.