Date: July 27, 2008
Author:

Shark bites back

Greg Norman returned to the kind of form which made him a surprise contender at the British Open at Birkdale last week to reignite his faint hopes of success at the Senior Open Championship. Norman hit four birdies to finish with a third-round score of 67 and head into the final round on one-over-par – seven shots behind American John Cook. The 53-year-old Australian opened with a birdie and then picked up shots on the 4th, 6th and 16th holes but, despite hitting the joint top score of the day with Cook, felt that he had missed a chance to hit an even better score in perfect conditions at Royal Troon. “I&aposm not very happy to tell you the truth. There wasn&apost anything wrong with my game today. I felt like I even putted well but I just didn&apost make anything. I was very disappointed with 67 today,” he said. “Today was better than yesterday. Today was really solid I drove the ball really beautifully and drove it long. I think 67 was the worst score I could have made today.” Cook&aposs round included six birdies and he just two dropped shots as he took over at the top of the leaderboard from compatriot Bruce Vaughan, who is one shot behind after he hit a a third-round 69. Third Round of the Senior British Open (Par 71): -6: John Cook 69 71 67 -5: Bruce Vaughan 68 71 69 -4: Eduardo Romero 68 73 68 -1: Bernhard Langer 70 71 71, Tom Watson 70 71 71 +1: Kirk Hanefeld 69 73 72, Gene Jones 70 76 68, Greg Norman (Australia) 75 72 67 +3: Mark James 75 73 68, Tony Johnstone 71 74 71, David Merriman (Australia) 74 73 69, Kyoshi Murota 75 72 69 +4: Andy Bean 69 75 73, Philip Blackmar 74 72 71, Mark McNulty 70 72 75, John Morse 70 78 69 +5: John Bland 71 76 71, Gary Hallberg 76 69 73, Constantino Rocca 73 73 72 Also: +6: Wayne Grady (Australia) 74 72 73 +9: Terry Gale (Australia) 78 74 70 +10: Noel Radcliffe (Australia) 76 75 72 +12: Jim Lapsley (New Zealand) 76 73 76