Case of Butterfly Mars Otherwise Perfect Day : Golf: Norman shoots another 67 to finish 24 under and win the Players Championship by four strokes over Zoeller.

Although he failed to complete another bogey-free round, Greg Norman played yet another round of excellent golf Sunday, closing with a five-under 67 to win the Players Championship at Ponte Vedra, Fla., by four strokes over Fuzzy Zoeller.

For the third consecutive round, Norman set a scoring record on the home course of the PGA Tour, the TPC at Sawgrass, a course once cursed by players for its difficulty.

But Norman, taking advantage of what he called soft conditions, turned the TPC at Sawgrass into his personal plaything.

He opened the tournament with a 63 and set course records at 130 for 36 holes and 197 for 54. His final round produced a total of 24-under 264, six shots better than the course record set by Nick Price last year.

Norman ranked the runaway, wire-to-wire victory “very high” among his 66 career victories around the world. And the timing couldn’t be better. “It’s a very important win for me, playing like I did and going into Augusta,” he said. The Masters is April 7-10.

Norman had only one complaint Sunday. “I’ve never gone through 72 holes without making a bogey,” he said. “That was my goal today.”

His only bogey of the week came Sunday on the par-three 13th, where he missed the green.

He chipped to about eight feet and was standing over that par putt when a butterfly fluttered across his line. He didn’t flinch or back away, but missed to the left.