Five days after Nick Faldo told him to "pull your finger out" and four days after he still feared a wrist injury might keep him out, Padraig Harrington was tonight celebrating more Open Championship glory.

Greg Norman's two-shot overnight lead was quickly cut in half in the final round of the Open Championship at a windswept Royal Birkdale today.

If there was anything clear and uncomplicated to emerge from the buffeting Royal Birkdale took yesterday it was that despite all that wind the lowest front nine of the tournament so far was recorded.

Birdies were rarer than an airborne ostrich until a young player from Colombia produced a flock of them to remind the rest of the world that Royal Birkdale, the master of the field over the first two uncomfortable days, could be mastered.

Attempting to explain the resurgence of Greg Norman, aka the Grey White Shark, Bernard Gallacher informed listeners of BBC Radio Five Live: "It just shows what marrying a new woman can do for you. I hope my wife isn't listening." Seconds later his phone rang. "I am," Lesley Gallacher told her husband. In what appears to be a match made in heaven, Norman got hitched to Chris Evert a couple of weeks ago in the Bahamas and the former tennis ace, wrapped in a black hoodie, has been walking the links at Birkdale, lending moral support to her partner. Norman, twice an Open champion, managed to avoid paying a fine here after he was stopped by police for driving while using a mobile phone. He was very grateful; his ex-wife Laura received $103 million (£52m) in the divorce settlement.

My short game has long been an object of derision. One professional actually gaveme my money back after a chipping lesson. He said I was worse at the end of it than I had been before. That hurt. I can take criticism and have learned to cope with the mockery, but I cannot stand pity.

Padraig Harrington is right where he wanted to be. Today he will challenge for the Open, playing in the final pairing alongside Greg Norman, whom he trails by two strokes. All he was looking for was a chance. The fact that he is going for a second successive Claret Jug has little bearing on it, although winning the first one proved to the 36-year-old Irishman that he has the formula for success.

The wind of change blasted through the leaderboard and while the likes of Justin Rose and Lee Westwood went south, Simon Wakefield woke this morning (provided he managed to sleep) to find himself in the heat of the battle for the 137th Open Championship.

Spider-Man. Golf punk. Ripped. Call Camilo Villegas what you will. His agility while lining up putts on one leg and one finger has led to one nickname. His look and his six-pack have led to others. But whatever happens today to the freshest breath of air that Birkdale has conjured in human form this week, the nascent Colombian has made his mark in his debut Open.

A brutal day on the links, in which 50mph winds threatened to blow the Open Championship off the edge of Southport, ended with a piece of golfing history being created. Greg Norman became the oldest player to hold an overnight lead in any of the four majors. And today he will be all out to dabble in some further record-book rewriting.