Greg Norman took 66 shots on the golf course Friday, then leveled a couple of more at his critics.
"Everybody expects things of me," said Norman, winner of the 1986 British Open and 66 other tournaments around the world - but none in more than a year."When I don't win, everybody is making up excuses and reasons - that I'm an alcoholic, that I'm seeing a psychologist, that I'm going to quit the American tour and play in Europe.
"I never said anything like that. How can they write that without checking their facts? I don't know where they get all this stuff," the obviously exasperated Norman said Friday.
"It's ridiculous," he snorted. "It's really kind of sad."
"That's all history now," he said. "It's behind me."
Ahead of him, over the final two rounds of the Western Open, is a chance to end the frustrating slump that has been accompanied by rumor, speculation and criticism.
He holds a 2-stroke lead at the tournament's halfway point, with a 9-under-par 135 total he said could have been much better.
Mark Lye was second alone at 137 after a 71 over the Dubsdread course at Cog Hill, which replaced Butler National as the tournament site this year after the all-male club declined to comply with a PGA Tour policy requiring open membership practices for clubs hosting its tournaments.
Andrew Magee, lefty Russ Cochran, Gary Hallberg and Fred Couples, a winner last week in Memphis, were next at 138.
Norman's year-long slump started with a 67-76 drubbing at the hands of Nick Faldo in their third-round head-to-head confrontation at the 1990 British Open. He also missed the cut at the Masters earlier this season, took an unscheduled 3-week vacation when he said he was suffering from burnout, withdrew after 27 holes of the U.S. Open last month.
"A mixed up year. A topsy-turvy last couple of months," said Norman, who takes a daily dose of four over-the-counter pain-killers to combat an aching hip.
At Mason, Ohio, the heralded grouping of three of golf's all-time greats on Friday produced the largest crowd in the history of the Senior PGA Tour, but less than memorable golf.
"I think people got treated to a day you won't see very often," said Jack Nicklaus, whose group included Arnold Palmer and Lee Trevino.
"I think it was a very special day to a lot of people in golf because Arnold and myself and Lee have all competed at a high level for a long time. I don't think it was important whether we shot great rounds or not."
The trio drew more than 40,000 people to the first round of the $600,000 Kroger Senior Classic at the Jack Nicklaus Sports Center about 20 miles north of Cincinnati.
Nicklaus, Palmer and Trevino had never been in the same group in a tournament, although they had been together for the made-for-television Senior Skins Game.
Of the three, only Trevino broke par on Friday, shooting a 68 which left him two shots out of the lead.
Nicklaus had an even-par 71 over the 6,628-yard Grizzly Course. Palmer, who started the day with a double bogey after hitting his approach into the six-deep gallery, struggled to a 76.
Almost lost in the fuss over the "second coming of senior golf," as one tournament official had called the Palmer-Nicklaus-Trevino threesome, was the play of Dale Douglass, Terry Dill, Al Geiberger and Dudley Wysong, all with 5-under 66s. Larry Laoretti was one shot back.