Choi leads, but Norman's the story

The Korean KJ Choi birdied the final two holes to take the overnight lead, but not the headlines, from Greg Norman who made a pretty impressive finish of his own.

The Australian drove into the hay off the 17th fairway and hit his fourth shot into the greenside pot but he flipped it out to a dozen feet and holed that for a six.

Then, after hitting his long approach putt off the green at the last, he holed the 20-footer coming back for his four and second 70.

Choi played two equally good opening rounds at Carnoustie last year and many thought his game and his inscrutable temperament would take him to the title.

He was in brilliant form having won a couple of times in America but by the end he had slipped off into the night with a nice cheque but no trophy.

He has worked with Australian coach Steve Bann for a couple of years now and when Bann first sat down with KJ to discuss his mental approach to the game and how they could go about working together he was quickly told, 'just give me the swing. If I have that I will win. Don't worry about all that other stuff.'

The assumption is that all must have contemplated the prospect of a Norman win. Could he possibly do it? His swing still looks strong and age has not shortened it an inch and he still runs through the exact same putting preparations before he hits and he always was a first-rate putter.

Hogan and Snead both continued to hit perfectly well into their 50s and 60s - Snead was third in the USPGA as a 60-year-old - but their putting was horrific at a time when their hitting was easily good enough to beat most men half their age.

Next, after Choi and Norman, comes the Colombian, Camilo Villegas who shot 65, the best round so far, and another shot behind is the pack of Mediate, McDowell, Furyk, Allenby, the young Swede Alexander Noren, Harrington, the defender and the 2001 champion David Duval - whose position is an even greater surprise than Norman's.

Duval's demise has matched that of 1991 Birkdale winner Ian Baker-Finch. He had supplanted Tiger Woods at the top of the rankings and it seemed like a genuine rivalry for Tiger but it seems he decided to improve the way he played and sometimes that works and sometime it doesn't.

It didn't for Duval who adopted the career-ending malaise of missing drives both left and right.

That was the death of Baker-Finch's game and Snead and Hogan did prove they could compete with the putting yips but no man can compete with the driving yips. It is the putting yips that get the magazine instruction attention but when you don't know where to aim off the tee you might as well retire to the television tower.

Perhaps Duval has found something and that would be a good thing because the game is better off if players of his uncommon talent stay around.

Allenby is beautifully positioned as is Stuart Appleby at 143 and Adam Scott on 144 which is a true reflection of the par, the difficulty of the course and the weather they have had to endure.

The weekend forecast seems not much better than what has come already and it will make for fun watching - but grinding, difficult playing.