Four days after nearly making history at the British Open, Greg Norman labored to a 75 in Thursday's opening round at the Seniors British Open to be seven shots behind co-leaders Eduardo Romero and Bruce Vaughan. The 53-year-old Norman led the Open at Royal Birkdale with nine holes to play Sunday and appeared on course to become the oldest winner of a major, but he eventually saw the title go to playing partner Padraig Harrington. Owner of two Open titles, the last in 1993, Norman has yet to win a seniors title and is hoping his fourth ever event in over-50s golf might make up for the hurt of Sunday's final round. In sunny conditions at Troon, Norman bogeyed six of the first 10 holes and was 6 over before he finally picked up a shot at the par-4 13th. He made one more birdie at the last with a pitch to 3 feet. “Things just weren't going my way early on,” Norman said. “I just had to hang in there and guts it out the best I could. The ball just wasn't rolling my way. There's more than one round in a golf tournament. Romero, who lost a playoff to Loren Roberts in this championship two years ago at Turnberry, won the Dick's Sporting Goods Open at Endicott, New York, three weeks ago for his second seniors triumph. Romero made one bogey in a 3-under 68, driving into a fairway bunker at the par-5 sixth hole and having to lay up. Vaughan, who made eight birdies, and Romero lead by one stroke over Andy Bean, John Cook and Kirk Hanefield of the United States and England's Nick Job. Vaughan spoiled his opening round with a double-bogey 7 at the fifth after hacking out of the rough, and a triple-bogey at the 12th, where his bunker shot flew over the green and almost hit a spectator. But he recovered to play the last six holes at 3-under par. Vaughan is only in his second season on the Champions Tour and said he would be delighted if his first tournament victory was on a links course used regularly for the Open. While Norman struggled, playing partner Tom Watson made every green and missed only one fairway in a bogey-free 70. Craig Stadler hit a hole-in-one at the “Postage Stamp” eighth hole – the shortest in the history of the British Open – winning 123 bottles of wine, one for every yard, as a prize from a sponsor. The burly American, who won the 1982 Masters, used a pitching wedge to find the front of the green and the ball bounced twice before rolling in. It happened immediately after he birdied the seventh, but Stadler finished with a 74. Ochoa takes lead Ochoa shot a 7-under par 65 Thursday to take a one-stroke lead after the first round of the $3.25 million Evian Masters. The 26-year-old Mexican started with a birdie on the first hole and added six more on the back nine in a bogey-free round. Ochoa was a stroke ahead of three players: Ahn Sun-ju, Candie Kung and Angela Park. Park, a 19-year-old Brazil-born South Korean gained United States citizenship last month, began with eight pars before making birdies on six of the final 10 holes. Laura Diaz teed off before 8 a.m. and took the clubhouse lead with a 5-under 67. Like Ochoa, the 33-year-old American had taken a short break from golf before Evian and dominated the back nine, birdieing five of the last eight holes. Unlike Ochoa, Diaz arrived in the French lakeside resort with an injury inflicted by her toddler son, Robert. It was the first time Diaz had shot under 70 in opening round in 17 tournaments this season. A four-time Solheim Cup player, she has two wins on the US LPGA Tour, both in 2002 when she climbed as high as seven in the women's golf rankings. Diaz was joined at 5-under by fellow Americans Juli Inkster and Angela Stanford, Meena Lee of South Korea and Norway's Suzann Pettersen. South Koreans Kim In-kyung and Kim Young were another shot back along with Amy Yang, while defending champion Natalie Gulbis - who played with Ochoa Thursday - led a group of seven at 3 under. Annika Sorenstam played Friday with the status of crowd favorite in what is her final competitive trip to Europe, which concludes with the British Women's Open next week. She will retire at the end of the season. The 2000 and 2002 Evian champion played with Helen Alfredsson and Catrin Nilsmark, an all-Swedish trio of former winners, but had four bogeys and finished with a 71, six shots off the lead.
