Norman rolls back the years

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 Robert Allenby.

The 53-year-old, who feels marrying Evert has “revitalised” his life, had pledged to keep his expectations “realistically low”, but after nine holes was alone in red figures at the top of the leaderboard despite 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 number one 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.

After three and a half hours’ of play it was the only score under-par, with Swedish pair Fredrik Jacobson and Peter Hanson his nearest challengers on level-par.

Mediate had covered the front nine in 34 with one birdie and one bogey, but then took six on the 11th after carving his second shot into the gorse bushes and forced to take a penalty drop.

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 – was also three-over for his round after 10.