Near the end of the second round, the 137th Open was being led by a 53-year-old who hasn't won in a decade and his closest pursuer was a vertigo sufferer. With the exception of the defending champion Padraig Harrington, the first page of the leaderboard looked as if it has been dreamt up by Tim Burton on acid.

'Greg Bleeding Norman', local Liverpudlian's could be heard muttering in the galleries as they blinked disbelievingly at the scoreboard and saw the Australian's name beside the most unlikely of numbers: 1.

Norman maintains that his expectations are "realistically low", but there is a hum in the press centre today as hacks from around the country hammer into their laptops the fairytale question: Can Norman go all the way?

Probably not. But that didn't stop one particular journo from walking in circles while on his mobile saying, with escalating enthusiasm, "He didn't think he could. We didn't think he could. But maybe he can. Maybe he CAN!"

Norman prepared for this week's tournament in a church, declaring his undying love to new wife, tennis legend Chris Evert (the Great White Snake having snaffled her off his good friend). When he wasn't choosing cake he was forking out $105 million to his former wife to settle that divorce.

If the months leading up to the Open sound like episodes of Neighbours - divorce, marriage, not much work - then the scriptwriters seem to have been kept on board for another week. With them on his side, Norman is likely to win the Open on Sunday and die in a hangliding accident a week later.

Just an hour before the close of play journalists were left to frantically rewrite their headlines, backspacing over Greg Norman's name and replacing it with KJ Choi's, the latter having holed a long putt on the 18th green to take the overnight lead.

Choi is the only man in red figures, but after a vastly improved day of scoring at Birkdale comments such as those made by Jerry Kelly yesterday - he moaned that the course was set up to embarrass players - are beginning to seem as rash as they sounded.

The Open Championship has been redeemed after a torrid opening day, the improved yet far from benign conditions proving Birkdale a stern yet fair test. In short, exactly the challenge it should be.