BBC SPORT | Golf | Norman in good form

Greg Norman rolled back the years to take the halfway lead at the Kemper Open in Maryland.

The 47-year-old Australian legend shot a bogey free round of six-under-par 65 to lead the rest of the field by two strokes.

Craig Barlow, Bob Estes, Willie Wood and Bob Burns are Norman's nearest challengers.

Estes put himself in contention with an eagle at the thirteenth but was left counting the cost of dropped shots at the 16th and 17th.

Motivation

After a birdie at the 16th, Norman's tee-shot at the 17th dropped just two feet from the pin and he was able to make it two in a row.

It brought him to 10-under 132 for the tournament, following his opening day 67.

Norman is bidding to take his first PGA Tour title since 1997 and follow in the footsteps of Tom Watson who claimed the Colonial aged 48 three years ago.

American Bob Estes
Bob Estes is among the group one shot behind Norman

He admits that nowadays the biggest challenge for him is simply to get motivated to play and said he hadn't practiced since playing in the WorldCom Classic in mid-April.

"Sometimes as of late the hardest part is getting to the starting gate," he said.

"Once you get to the starting gate, everything else is natural, and that's the way I've felt the last couple of days.

"I don't feel 47, to tell you the truth," he added. "I probably feel better than I did when I was 35."

First round leader Franklin Langham couldn't repeat his heroics and finished the day with a 72 to join six players at seven under.

Leading second round scores (US unless stated):

132 G Norman (Aus) 67 65
134 C Barlow 67 67, B Estes 65 69, W Wood 66 68, B Burns 68 66
135 H Frazar 69 66, A Magee 67 68, B Gay 66 69, D Waldorf 67 68, B May 68 67, F Langham 63 72
136 J Sindelar 68 68, J Durant 67 69, R Beem 68 68, M Brooks 69 67, C Howell III 70 66, B Molder 67 69
137 S Elkington (Aus) 70 67, J Williamson 66 71, L Donald (GB) 68 69, C DiMarco 66 71, S Micheel 68 69.


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