Greg Norman grabs lead in Senior British Open
Greg Norman shot a bogey-free 6-under 64 on Saturday to grab the lead by a stroke heading into the last round of the Senior British Open in Sunningdale, England.
Norman was at 10-under 200, a stroke ahead of overnight leader Fred Funk (72) and Loren Roberts (67).
Tom Watson's hopes of improving on his runner-up spot in the British Open last week took a hit after a 70 that left him 6 shots behind Norman.
Watson's putter remained cold, despite an overnight grip change following similar problems on Friday.
"I had five 3-putts. I wasted a good ball-striking day," he said. "I hit it very well and made absolutely nothing on the greens, although I did make a 60-footer (on the 13th hole) and a 30-footer (on the 5th).
"Otherwise, I was missing everything. Everything was right, everything pushed. Maybe I ought to aim left.
"I don't have very good speed control on these greens."
Norman found the right speed in a solid round.
"I put the ball in play and putted decently," he said. "I got on the tee and could see the shots I wanted to play and just went and played them. I really wasn't worried about anything else."
The Shark loves the Sunningdale course, where he played often and won during his years on the European Tour.
"I feel comfortable around this golf course. I always have done for some reason. I like the way it feels to me off the tee. You can be aggressive or conservative, depending on how you want to play. Today I had a mixture of both."
Funk dropped his first shot of the week at the tough second hole, then double-bogeyed the 12th and bogeyed 14.
"The good news is that I'm still there. I can still win it,' Funk said. "The bad news is that I put everyone else in the tournament right back in it."
Larry Mize also shot a 64, and Bernhard Langer, Ben Crenshaw and defending champion Bruce Vaughan all had 65s. Langer has a share of seventh place, 4 shots behind Norman as he bids for his fifth Champions Tour victory of the year.
"I hit a lot of good quality shots even though I didn't make many putts," Langer said. "I still shot 65 so I'm happy with my long game."
Denis Watson was in fourth place, one ahead of Mize and Sam Torrance, who was second overnight. Torrance triple-bogeyed the tough second hole and shot 71.
Mize birdied four in a row from the 11th, and the last two.
Mize, who 22 years ago made a spectacular chip-in to beat Norman for the Masters, was delighted with his round, which contained six birdies in a back nine of 29.
"I felt I got things rolling on the back nine and was able to bring it in pretty good," he said.
Canadian Open: Jason Dufner flirted with a 59, then settled for a 9-under 63. Mark Calcavecchia made a PGA Tour-record 9 straight birdies. And there were 2 more aces in perfect scoring conditions Saturday at the Canadian Open in Oakville, Ontario.
The fun didn't last long, giving way to 1.8 inches of rain on the already-saturated Glen Abbey course. Soon after Dufner finished the second round in light showers, the heavy rain forced tour officials to postpone the third round until this morning.
Four inches of rain have fallen since the event began Thursday.
"If you had a sponge underneath the faucet, the water just starts running off. That's the case we have right now," PGA Tour tournament director Steve Carman said. "Surface water is just running off. So we're anticipating the golf course will be very similar to where it was this morning, still saturated."
In an attempt to get 36 holes in today, the tour cut to the low 60 and ties instead of the usual low 70 and ties, leaving 64 players in the tournament. The players will go off in threesomes and won't be regrouped for the fourth round.
At 13 under, Dufner had a 1-stroke advantage over Jerry Kelly (67) and 2001 winner Scott Verplank (67). Nathan Green (65), Peter Tomasulo (68), Martin Laird (69), Pat Perez (67), Bob Estes (67), Retief Goosen (69) and first-round co-leaders Camilo Villegas (71) and Kevin Na (71) were 10 under.
Calcavecchia opened the delayed second round with two pars, then reeled off nine straight birdies. His nine birdie putts were from 15 feet or closer. With 15-year-old son Eric working as his caddie, Calcavecchia shot a 65 to reach 8 under.
Calcavecchia broke the record set by Bob Goalby in his 1961 St. Petersburg Open victory and matched by Fuzzy Zoeller (1976 Quad Cities Open), Dewey Arnette (1987 Buick Open), Edward Fryatt (2000 Doral-Ryder Open), J.P. Hayes (2002 Bob Hope Classic) and Kelly (2003 Las Vegas Invitational).
USGA Junior Amateur: Medalists Jordan Spieth of Dallas and Amy Anderson of Oxbow, N.D., have won the USGA boys and girls Junior Amateur Championships in Bedminster, N.J. Spieth posted a 4 and 3 victory over Jay Hwang of San Diego. Anderson defeated Kimberly Kim of Hilo, Hawaii, 6 and 5 in 36-hole matches on the New Course at the Trump National Golf Club.