Refreshed Norman two shots off pace

Greg Norman, back from shoulder surgery to play in his own tournament, teamed with fellow Australian Steve Elkington to grab third place, two strokes behind John Daly and Fuzzy Zoeller, after yesterday's opening round of the $1.3 million Shark Shootout at Thousand Oaks, California.

Norman, the host of this unofficial PGA Tour event, and Elkington shot a five-under-par 67 in the alternate-shot competition at the Sherwood Country Club. They were within two strokes of the leading tandem of Daly and Zoeller, and one back of Costantino Rocca and Scott Hoch.

Norman had surgery to remove bone spurs from his left shoulder on April 22nd, just 10 days after the Masters, the last event in which he played.

He spent four months rehabilitating the arm to gain range of motion before spending nearly three months working to regain his golf game.

Norman has never won this event, which began in 1989. Elkington has won twice.

Sitting three shots off the pace were the teams of Davis Love and Brad Faxon, Tour Championship winner Hal Sutton and Glen Day, Billy Andrade and Jay Haas, and Peter Jacobsen and John Cook.

The event consists of 12 pairs of golfers who will play a best-ball format today before competing in a scramble for tomorrow's final round, when the players select the best ball and continue to play until the hole is finished.

The Sherwood Country Club is a par-72 that measures 7,025 yards. The two winning golfers receive $160,000 each.

Nobuo Serizawa fired six birdies against two bogeys and surged to a three-stroke lead after the second round of the $1.2 million Taiheiyo Masters inGotemba, Japan, yesterday. Serizawa holed out for a total of 135, with Frankie Minoza of the Philippines and Tateo Ozaki of Japan tied in second. Two-time defending champion Lee Westwood is one stroke behind.

Westwood, third in the European tour rankings this season, carded the day's best score of 67 and was joined at 139 by overnight leader Eduardo Herrera of Colombia and Japan's Ryoken Kawagishi.

Ireland's Darren Clarke returned a second 71 to be seven shots off the pace.

American Mark O'Meara, winner of this year's Masters and British Open tournaments, shot an even-par 72 to lurk in 41st spot at one-over-par 145.