GREG NORMAN raised quite a few eyebrows, not least among one of the game's leading sponsors, by declaring on Sunday that he was taking a three month winter break.

While speaking at Royal Melbourne, where he finished runner up to compatriot Peter Senior, he appeared to be giving no thought to the Andersen Consulting World Championship next month.

Norman's manager, Frank Williams, has since dismissed the interlude as nothing more than a misunderstanding. When I phoned him yesterday about the matter, Williams insisted: "Yes, Greg is taking three months off."

But what of the $3.65 million Anderen Consulting in which Nor man is scheduled to join the semi final line up with Scott Hoch, Sam Torrance and Hisayuki Sasaki in Scottsdale, Arizona, on January 4th and 5th? "Yes, Greg will certainly be playing," said Williams. "Other than that, he's taking three months off. All right?" These high powered business people can make us golf correspondents feel quite inadequate.

Before he captured the Australian Open last month for a fifth time, Norman's position as world number one appeared to be under threat from Tom Lehman. Now, having taken over from Nick Price at the 1995 US Open, he has extended his reign at the top to 77 successive.

This leaves him only four weeks short of Nick Faldo's record of 81 successive weeks at number one, in 1992/1994. Meanwhile, Norman the only player to have held a position in the top 10 of the Sony World Rankings every week since it was launched in 1986 and has held the top spot for a total of 286 out of the 555 weeks the system has been in operation.

Approaching 1997, the main threat to him may come from Colin Montgomerie rather than the current number two, Lehman. By capturing the Million Dollar Challenge last Sunday, Montgomerie moved up from sixth to fourth place behind Ernie Els, whom he beat in a play off at Sun City.

The progress of Montgomerie, who was world number two for a certain period last season, has been remarkable on all fronts.

The fact is that no other player has achieved such consistent improvement in recent decades. This is reflected in his positions in the World Rankings and the European" Order of Merit since the end off 1988, his first full season as a tournament professional.

But the big Scot is acutely aware that a major victory is the coveted prize that still eludes. Speaking of, last Sunday's win he conceded: "Okay it's not a major but seeing the 12 names here, I feel proud I've beaten them."

Still, it provided some compensation in what was a miserable year for [Montgomerie in the major championships. He was tied 39th of the 44 players to make the cut in the US Masters; was a creditable 10th in the US Open but then missed the cut, both in the British Open and the USPGA Championship.

Darren Clarke's strong end of season performances, which included victory in the German Masters, have assured him a place in next year's Andersen Consulting Championship. The deadline for entries in January 5th and nothing in the meantime can deprive the Ulsterman of one of the eight European places which carry a minimum reward of $20,000.

Tom Lehman was voted the Golf Writers Association of America's Player of the Year and Britain's Laura Davies was the Female of the Year, the organisation announced last night. Lehman, winner of the British Open and one stroke/runner up in the US Open, received 187 votes. Rookie professional Tiger Woods was second with 20 votes and Phil Mickelson third with nine.