The treacherous fairways of Royal Adelaide almost halted Greg Norman's comeback from injury yesterday when he ballooned to an 82 and barely made the halfway cut in the Australian Open.

The former world number one, in his first 72-hole tournament since shoulder surgery, and former Masters Champion Fred Couples had anxious waits until learning that their totals of eight-over-par 152 just got them through.

England's Justin Rose, hero of last July's British Open as an amateur, missed yet another professional cut when he three-putted the last green for an 81 and total of 153.

At the halfway stage of the Aus$1 million tournament, only unheralded Australians Paul Gow and Rod Pampling and journeyman Peter Senior were under par among the 126-strong field.

Norman (43), produced one of his poorest rounds in his national open as he unravelled in the blustery conditions, scoring 11 bogeys with just one birdie at the tough 14th hole.

"I did not have control of the elements today," Norman said after his nightmare 10-over round. "The golf course got the better of me. I hit some bad shots, I got some bad breaks, some bad lies and that's it.

"You pay the price around here if you don't get the ball in the right place," said Norman, who was one shot off the lead after the first day.

Gow, who has won on the Nike Tour, defied the conditions to clamber to the top of the leaderboard on three under 141 after his gutsy round of four birdies and just two bogeys in the minefield homeward nine.

Nick Faldo profited from on-the-spot analysis from Australian golfing legend Norman Von Nida to dramatically improve his chances, turning around a wretched opening round 77 with the day's best round of three under 69.