Norman predicts low scoring

Greg Norman fears his beloved Royal Melbourne course has been rendered “a little defenceless” by the march of technology.

As a result, the two-time Open champion believes it will take a score better than 20 under par to win this week‘s Heineken Classic.

Norman feels the development of clubs and balls allows him to drive 30 yards further through the air than he could in his prime, enabling the 47-year-old to attack the holes that tested him 20 years ago.

“Royal Melbourne is getting a little defenceless, no question. I remember the ninth hole in the 1980s – I couldn’t reach it with a three-wood,” he said.

“Last year I was hitting four or five irons into it and in the space of two decades that’s a par-four for us.

“With technology nowadays this is a positional golf course – you can’t overpower it. There are par-fives where you must lay up off the tee.

“It’s probably been passed by technology but it‘s now more of a strategy golf course.”

Despite all the advances in technology, Royal Melbourne will still be a testing course this weekend.

Temperatures touching 40 degrees left the fairways solid, the greens lightning-quick and with the rough cut back, the danger of skipping off into the trees is very real.

But following Vijay Singh’s winning score of 23 under in Scottsdale, Norman is convinced the scores will be low this weekend even if the rain comes as predicted on Friday.

“The guys, with technology, shoot 31 under for four rounds of golf,” said Norman. “If you aren‘t shooting mid-20s you are not in with a chance. The same thing will happen here. I would imagine 20 under.”

Defending champion Ernie Els will start as favourite after a blistering start to the season which brought back-to-back wins on the USPGA Tour in the Mercedes Championships and Sony Open in Hawaii.

He only just missed out on a hat-trick in Singapore last week, losing on the last hole to Zhang Lian-Wei.