Now, however, he has a chance to make belated amends. With 18 holes to play at Royal Troon today, Cook leads the Senior Open Championship by one shot from compatriot Bruce Vaughan. Others still in with a more than reasonable chance of claiming the £157,918 first prize include such hardened winners as Eduardo Romero, Tom Watson and Bernhard Langer. All three shot no more than par yesterday.

Oh, there's one more guy in with a shout, too.

With three holes to play in the second round of the Senior Open Championship, Greg Norman was eight over par and surely thinking only about making the halfway cut. Three holes later, courtesy of an eagle-par-birdie finish, he was back to five over the card and idly pondering a spot in the top 10. Now, coming off the best score shot by anyone this week and with 18 holes left at Royal Troon, the Australian is only one over the card, tied for sixth and, most pertinently, only seven shots behind Cook. Suddenly, an unlikely victory beckons.

Well, it does if he putts better than he did yesterday. Although Norman got himself round the 7,064-yard course in an immaculate bogey-free 67, he left the premises less than chuffed by what he deemed a poor display on the superb Troon greens. Hi-jacked by Sky television immediately after he just missed for what would have been a fifth birdie of the day on the 18th green, the two-time Open champion proved to be a less-than-perfect interviewee. Most of his answers barely qualified as 'curt'.

"I'm not very happy to tell you the truth," was his clipped response to the opening inquiry. "There wasn't anything wrong with my game today. But I just didn't make anything. I was very disappointed with 67 today. It was really the worst score I could have shot; I just didn't capitalise on my round."

All of which is not to say that Norman has given up on catching and passing the overnight leader, who also shot 67 yesterday. For the Queenslander has been here before, of course. Back in 1989, also at Royal Troon, he closed with a seven-under par round of 64 that was good enough to make up seven shots on the overnight leader and send him into the Open's first four-hole play-off, one he would later lose to Mark Calcavecchia.

"If I play the way I played today and make a few more putts it will be at least fun," continued the 53-year old, who led last week's Open Championship at Royal Birkdale with only eight holes to play before subsiding into a tie for third place. "When you walk to the first tee and the breeze is behind and right-to-left you can really get to those early holes all the way to the seventh."

He knows of what he speaks, of course. That 64 back in '89 began with six straight birdies.

Leading the British 'challenge' is Mark James. The former Ryder Cup player and captain's 68 took him into a tie for ninth place. He even managed to make a four at the notorious 11th hole, one that has caused many cases of the 'heebee-jeebees' all week. One day after describing the hole as "unplayable," James made par by smoking a 3-wood 260 yards up the fairway, then smashing a 2-iron "head height so that it couldn't go over the wall" on to the front edge. After two putts he left the green "thrilled".

"I played nicely," claimed the 54-year old Englishman. "This course is still a good test, even on a day like this. You get a lot of dodgy lies on humps and that makes things difficult. Overall though, I'm happy with the way I played. It was nice to hole some putts for a change."

Still, the man they will all have to catch is Cook, who this week is sharing a house with his close friend and compatriot, Mark O'Meara. The former Open and Masters champion finished three hours before his close buddy. Seven over par for the opening two rounds, the 51-year old nipped round in 71 to move into the top 25.

"It's pretty benign out there," he declared. "Someone will shoot 67, although the course is playing a lot differently. Yesterday I hit a drive and a sand wedge at the 15th downwind. Today I needed a 3-iron for my second shot. It was the same at the last. I went from hitting a 3-wood and a 9-iron to a drive and a 6-iron."

Only two Scots made the halfway cut. Ross Drummond is tied for 49th after a 75 and Billy McColl is an even more distant 68th equal following his 76. Neither, it is safe to say, will be harbouring Norman-like ambitions of victory today.