Norman still full of hope

Greg Norman believes he could be just two weeks away from becoming the oldest Open champion in history.

The 47-year-old Australian, who resumed the Smurfit European Open in Ireland today just two strokes off the lead, says that the day he gives himself no chance of winning is the day he packs up.

‘‘I’m not a believer in just going out there and walking round a golf course for the exercise,’’ said Norman after his three-under-par 69 at the demanding K Club.

‘‘If you don’t think you can win don’t put the tee in on the first tee.

‘‘My life has changed in a lot of ways and golf is not the be-all and end-all, but the fire in my belly and my determination are as strong as ever.

‘‘I’m excited about the Open. I haven’t played for the last two years (because of injury) and it’s been disappointing to miss them.

‘‘To me it’s the best Open in the world and when you play courses like Muirfield and you get to play bump-and-run shots off hard turf, with the different sound the ball makes coming off the clubface, it’s a great feeling going back to those places.’’

Norman won the title at Turnberry in 1986 and again at Sandwich in 1993. They remain the former world No 1’s only two majors and his decline has been such that this season he needed a special invitation to play the Masters and had to qualify for the US Open.

He is delighted to hear that while Augusta and Bethpage Black were tailor-made for long hitters - and Tiger Woods in particular, of course - Muirfield has lengthened only two of its par threes since Nick Faldo won there 10 years ago.

He does not expect to see it ripped apart.

‘‘The defence is the weather. One of the great things about Muirfield is that you’ve got to fit the ball around the course. It’s not an aerial attack,’’ added Norman.

‘‘The elements are going to come into effect some way along the line. Just look at the way Trevino and Faldo won around them - they kind of squirted the ball between and around bunkers.’’

Norman thinks that Faldo, his main rival during his time at the top, could well challenge Woods on the course where he has triumphed twice - especially after his fifth place finish at the US Open last month.

Faldo is missing from Dublin this week because of gastro-enteritis, while illness has also kept Woods out of the Western Open in Chicago.

Norman’s fellow Australian Jarrod Moseley and South African Darren Fichardt, loser of a play-off in the Irish Open last Sunday, were the two leading the way overnight at the latest stop on the European circuit.

The pair were one ahead of New Zealander Michael Campbell, Argentina’s Jorge Berendt and, waving the flag for the northern hemisphere, Swede Joakim Haeggman.

Colin Montgomerie and Niclas Fasth were alongside Norman, but none of the other eight members of this September’s Ryder Cup side in action could break par yesterday, with Paul McGinley slumping to a 77 and Swede Pierre Fulke last on 82.