By Mike Berardino
Staff Writer
The Augusta Chronicle

Remember the scene in Crocodile Dundee, the one where Paul Hogan's character gets jumped by a knife-wielding American?

``That's a knife?'' he says with a thick Australian accent before pulling out a much longer weapon. ``Now this is a knife.''

You had the same sort of exchange Thursday afternoon at the Augusta National Golf Club. After Phil Mickelson posted a head-turning 65 by mid-afternoon, a certain Australian responded with a course record-tying 63.

``That's a low number?'' Greg Norman seemed to be saying with his nine-birdie, no-bogey performance in the first round of the 60th Masters Tournament. ``Sorry, bloke. This is a low number.''

Reversing a career-long pattern of slow starts at the Masters, Norman mounted a remarkable charge to match Nick Price's third-round handiwork of 1986. That was fitting, since Price and the native Australian are best friends and next-door neighbors in Hobe Sound, Fla.

After opening with a string of six straight pars, Norman got rolling with a 35-foot birdie putt on No. 7. That triggered a stretch of nine birdies over the final 12 holes.

``When you get into the type of roll that I got into today, it feels very comfortable,'' said the two-time British Open champion. ``Hey, let it happen. Let the reins of the horse go and let him run as fast as he wants to run. That's what I did today.''

With Norman, 41, the horse has long been a thoroughbred of Secretariat's conformation. Trouble is, when the horse comes to the hard and fast track at the Masters, he's usually bogged down with too much weight and finds himself lost in the pack by the first turn.

Thursday, the big horse ran. And ran. And ran.

He galloped effortlessly and brilliantly until everybody else in the field - Mickelson included - looked like Sham.

How hot was Norman on Thursday? So hot you could forget about the ``barbee'' and fry those thick, juicy steaks on the blade of his putter.

So hot that he missed just two greens, required just 27 putts and pulled a pair of sand saves out of his back pocket.

So hot that he noticed a hot air balloon as he prepared to putt at No. 18, yet refused to back off the 24-foot birdie attempt.

``I looked up again and I said, `Just focus on the back of the ball. Just lock in on the ball,'ƒ'' Norman recalled. ``I felt comfortable with my shot. I didn't want to back off. I don't even know what type of balloon it was. I just made the putt and walked away.''

How hot? So hot he could have obliterated his pal Nicky's record, if only dead-on putts had dropped at No. 3 (9 feet), No. 5 (10 feet) and No. 11 (18 feet).

The putt at 11 hung on the lip of the cup, eliciting amazement from Norman and playing partner Fuzzy Zoeller.

``The ball just defied gravity,'' said Norman, who fired a final-round 64 in 1988, when he finished tied for fifth.

Once Norman found the groove, he had fun. At 14, after his 220-yard 3-iron shot out of the left woods rolled to within 3 feet of the hole, Norman acknowledged the cheers of the gallery by thrusting both fists overhead. He then removed his trademark black hat and grandly took a bow.

It was that kind of day for Norman, who is still looking for his first Masters victory in 16 tries.

It was a day that started with a positive practice-range session with his longtime teacher, Houston-based swing doctor Butch Harmon. It was a day that ended with an unforgettable round by a player who - incredibly for him - had missed cuts in his last two outings.

``One word is probably relaxation,'' Norman said. ``I was just relaxed and everything clicked into place.''