"OOOO-ERRRR," cooed a local woman as Greg Norman strode down the 10th fairway. "There's Greg Norman. He's ever so handsome. I can see why that Chrissie Evert married him."
The fairways at Royal Birkdale were not quite strewn with ladies knickers. But, at 53 and with a new bride on his arm, Norman had returned to the British Open after three years, in a new and unlikely role. He was the Tom Jones of the links.
Men have always revered the Shark. But now the women seemed to adore him.
Maybe it is because he has appeared more often in Women's Weekly than Golf Digest lately. It's definitely not just a physical thing - although Norman was always obsessive about staying in shape. He's the type who would not have scoffed a piece of wedding cake without first weighing it.
Which is why, even if his leathery brown face is a little wrinkled, Norman still cuts a dashing figure with that straw-blond hair and those piercing eyes. He's improved the wardrobe, too, with the trademark pastel outfits that made him look like he had been attacked by an angry Ken Done and the very eighties broad-brimmed hats replaced by Johnny Cash black. And, having just forked out more than $100 million in a divorce settlement, this is a man well advised to walk the line.
But, for all Tom Jones arthritis-defying gyrations, the secret to his sex appeal was not just his looks but the fact he could still belt out a great number. To his own great surprise, so too can the Shark.
The opening-round 70 that prompted a rapturous 18th-green ovation, which would have done justice to all-time favourites Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer, was not the type of rollicking, flag-bombing, performance of old. Rather, on a frigid day when folks not much older than Norman were sensibly ensconced in front of the telly with a rug and hot cocoa, he clung doggedly to the leaderboard, displaying the incredible finesse that was always overshadowed by his peerless ball-striking.
Not that the Shark strikes many balls these days. Not golf balls anyway. Norman has played just four tournaments this year, missing the cut in three regular tour events and finished tied for sixth at the senior PGA two months ago. "I probably practise more tennis than golf," he said. "But at the same time, there's something about this event that stimulates you."
As a recent honeymooner, stimulation is a subject the twinkle-eyed new groom has been asked about frequently since his appearance here. So, inevitably, the proposition that marriage had revitalised his game was put on the table. "I wouldn't say revitalise my golf game," said Norman, disappointing those hoping to establish a link between success in the matrimonial chamber and on the fairway. "I think it just revitalised my life. When you're more relaxed and you're happier, everything else makes it a little bit easier too."
Standing at the back of Norman's press conference, the other half of the new glamour couple "Normvert" - or is it "Evershark", or maybe "Gregert" - was assailed by reporters wondering if she thought she was about to witness one of her new husband's greatest triumphs.
"Well, it's very early days yet," she said combining the wisdom of an experienced sports star with the ego-deflating realism of a veteran wife.
Perhaps, having spent her first afternoon as a golf wife catching the occasional glimpse of her husband hitting a small white ball through the heads and shoulders of hundred of fans while attempting to keep the feeling in her numbing toes, Evert was keen to get back to walking hand-in-hand along the pier, making daisy chains and doing the other things that presumably even famous newlyweds do.
For his part, as hard as he had worked to keep the cameras away from his wedding in the Bahamas, Norman was clearly enjoying his unexpected day in the limelight.
"Like coming down the 18th after 5½ hours of golf, the way people receive you, you don't get that anywhere in the world," he said. "It's a phenomenal experience. It gives you a little bit more juice than you would normally have." Not such a bad thing for a man whose had a pretty busy time of it lately.