Australian Shines in the Rain
Greg Norman won his 18th European Tour title this week by defeating fellow Australian Craig Parry in the Italian Open by one stroke. Ronan Rafferty of Northern Ireland and Englishmen Roger Chapman and Denis Durian shared third.
The field exploded into action from the first tee shot. A quartet of players posted sub-65 opening rounds and a total of 13 broke 70 each of the first two days.
Bill McColl of Scotland opened with a 62 while Englishman David Whelan and Argentine Vicente Fernandez scored 63 in the first round.
Norman opened with a relatively quiet 68 and 69, but then vaulted up the leaderboard with a third-round 63. His round included an eagle, eight birdies and a lone bogey. Norman’s closing 70 was good enough for a one-shot victory. Norman finished 18-under for the week and posted a 270 aggregate. Saturday thunderstorms necessitated the final 36 holes be contested on Sunday.
More than a dozen Australians teed it up in this year’s Italian Open. It was Norman’s third appearance in this event. He collected £35,000 for the victory and nearly added a Lamborghini to his stable of vehicles.
In the second round, Norman launced an 8-iron toward the green on one of Monticello Golf Club’s par-3s and watched as the ball landed 15 feet past the pin, skipped once and spun back into the hole. Norman’s excitement evaporated quickly when he learned that another member of he field aced a different par-3 just moments before.