1993 Open Championship: Third-Round Summary - Sharkive - Sharkwatch

From a total of 312 rounds during the first 36 holes, the field of the 122nd Open Championship had played 73 rounds in the 60s, which breaks down to 23 percent, a little less than one quarter of the rounds over perhaps the most difficult course in the Open rota. It appears obvious, then, that given the proper conditions, the modern professional golfer might shoot anything; he has not approached his limit.

Even the most common defenses don't guarantee to frustrate players at this level. Distance means nothing. Accustomed to courses that reach beyond 7,000 yards, the 6,860 yards of Royal St George's stood well within their range. Heavy rough, speedy greens and tough hole locations have more effect. Sandwich had all the rough even a sadist might wish for, and whilst green speed may have lagged behind some the players find in other championships, the positions of the holes caught everyone's attention.

As the third round began, the early players found the flagsticks set next to hollows, bumps and ridges. A number of putts broke twice. Nevertheless, not long in to the day the course still showed it could be beaten. Starting off around 10 o'clock, Tom Kite, returning to the site of an earlier disappointment, and Ian Baker-Finch were the first to turn in sub-par scores.

Kit had been leading the 1985 Open with nine holes to play, but he missed the 10th green, dumped his third shot into a bunker, bladed his fourth across the green, and made 6. Surely and steadily he fell from the chase. A year ago, though, he had won the 1992 US Open, at Pebble Beach, but injuries had bothered him ever since.

After opening with 72 on Thursday and following with 70 on Friday, Kite sped around Royal St George's in 68 in the third round, a boost to his morale but of no real consequence to the final result of the championship.

Tom hadn't been finished 10 minutes before Baker-Finch followed him in with a round of 67. Clearly, even though the greens had dried out somewhat and the holes had been set in baffling positions, the course would yield to first-class shot making.

The strongest signal that Royal St George's might be in for another rough day came from Wayne Grady, the 1990 USPGA champion. Playing immediately Behind Baker-Finch, Grady shot 64, and had finished before the eight leaders had begun.

To refresh memories, Grady had led the 1989 Open going into the last round with scores of 68, 67 and 69, but he slipped to 71 in the fourth round, Greg Norman roared around Royal Troon in 64, and mark Calcavecchia finished with 68. Both men had caught him. Calcavecchia, of course, won the playoff. Disappointed, Grady made up for it by winning the USPGA the following August.

He hadn't done much since then, and in fact hadn't won a tournament on the American tour. He had, in fact, missed the cut in seven of the 13 events he had entered in 1993, and had won very little money, less than US$40,000, and had fallen to 172nd place in the rankings of US money winners. Consequently, nothing much had been expected of him at Sandwich, especially after he began with 74 on Thursday, a score that clearly placed him in danger of missing the 36-hole cut. Pulling his game together, he rallied by shooting 68 in the second round and saved himself.

Still, he represented no threat just yet. At 142 he stood well behind the leaders, trailing Nick Faldo by 10 strokes, but he continued to fight and began his third round with two birdies, reaching the right rear of the first green with an eight iron and holing from six feet and following with a sand wedge to another pin position close to the ridge edge and rolling home the putt from 10 feet.

Grady had his biggest moment on the seventh. After a solid drive, Wayne ripped into a three wood that rolled on to the green about 25 feet from the hole, tucked only four paces from the left edge. Grady's putt tumbled into the hole. An eagle 3; two strokes gained on one hole.

Now he stood four under par for the round, but still a long way from the lead. Determined, he continued to plug away and played a stunning six iron into the eighth that braked just 10 feet from the hole. Another putt fell and another 3 went down on his scorecard, his sixth of the round. He was five under through eight holes. When he played a routine par 4 at the ninth, he had gone out in 30, the best nine-hole score of the championship. Anything seemed possible now.

Grady began the homeward half still playing remarkable golf. He threaded a nine iron on to the elevated 10th green within five feet of the cup, set dangerously close to the right side, where the ground falls away down a slight slope. The putt dropped and he picked up still another 3. A par at the 11th and he had his eighth 3 and only three 4s. He was playing stunning golf.

Now he stood six under par with seven holes left. He had been playing such precise irons and had putted so well, holing every makeable putt, that his gallery had the feeling he might shoot anything.

Now the wind grew stronger, still coming in from the southwest, as it had throughout the week. Grady made par figures through the next six holes, and then stepped on to the 18th tee feeling the full force of the wind coming directly at him. He lashed into his driver and drilled his ball within 240 yards of the green. Not sure he could make the green from that distance, he drew out his driver once again.

He was right; he couldn't make it. His ball pulled up about 40 yards short of the green, but a nice pitch to 10 feet saved the par. He had come back in 34, and his 64 raised him to the fringes of the contenders, at 206 for 54 holes, within reach of the leaders. He had played a remarkable round made up of nine 3s, eight 4s and one 5, a par on the 14th. Sensational as it had been, Grady's round could have been even better; putts grazed the lips of the holes on the 16th and 17th, but didn't fall.

As Grady worked his way among the leaders, two others made significant moves as well. While Grady played those last treacherous holes, Nick Price set out on his way to a round of 67 that put him solidly into the chase at 205, but the big move was made by Corey Pavin, a pint-sized American with an unorthodox swing and a deadly putting stroke.

Starting out two strokes behind Faldo, at 134 for 36 holes, Pavin shot 68. When Faldo came in later with an even-par round of 70, Pavin had tied him for first place, at 202, one stroke ahead of Bernhard Langer, who matched Faldo's 70, and Greg Norman, who shot 69. With 70, Peter Senior dropped to a tie for fifth place, with Price, while Fred Couples shot 72, a round that would cost him heavily. He dropped into a tie with Grady and the young South African Ernie Els.

At first glance, Pavin gives the impression he has no business competing against the best players in the game. He lists his height at 5-ft-9, but he's probably an inch or so shorter, and his weight at 10 stone, which might be overstating it. Nevertheless, he had performed well enough in both his amateur and professional careers to have won places on both the Walker Cup and Ryder Cup teams and won every one of his singles matches.

Nor is he prone to intimidation. During his professional career he has won 10 tournaments, five of them in play-offs. He's lost only two.

The other US players consider him the most reliable clutch putter in the game, and he has holed some remarkable shots in spite of a jerky-looking swing that finishes with his hands low and almost wrapped around his left shoulder. His most gritty moment may have come at the end of the 1992 Honda Classic, in Florida, where he holed a full eight-iron shot to tie Couples, then won the play-off by holing a 20-foot putt.

A month later he placed third in the US Masters, helped considerably by a hole-in-one on Augusta National's hazardous 16th.

Not a big man himself, Langer speaks highly of Pavin's ability, saying, 'He's a tremendous competitor for his size. If I had to put anybody on the line to make a putt for me, I would choose him every time.'

Price called Pavin one of the smartest players in the game, saying, 'He was not given a lot to play this game with. He's not as long a hitter as I am, nor Norman nor Couples, but he's a fierce competitor.' Nor is Pavin, like most Americans, unfamiliar with links golf. He played the European Tour for three and a half months during 1983, shortly after he became a professional and before he qualified for the American tour. During that period he won twice and placed 13th on the Order of Merit. Once he qualified for the American tour, he became the first player since Jack Nicklaus to win a tournament in each of his first five years. Seven years after joining the tour, he became the 1991 leading money winner.

Fully confident in his ability to compete at the game's highest levels, Pavin, who was paired with Senior, made his move early, playing a nice little pitch to 10 feet on the second for one birdie. Then, barely on the fourth green following a drive and a four wood, he holed another putt that must have covered 50 feet.

Eight under par now, he had caught Faldo, who was off to a shaky start. With Prince Andrew, a certifiable golf nut, in his gallery, Nick bore up under an uncomfortable moment on the first tee. Just as he reached the top of that fluid backswing, a spectator, obviously intending to distract him, unleashed a piercing whistle. Nick flinched coming into the ball and hit the shot a bit thin, although it flew straight enough. His features set in a grim expression, Nick marched down the fairway while the Prince snapped, 'That was appalling.'

The culprit was chased down and expelled from the course.

Nick, meantime, had matched Pavin's birdie on the second with an even better approach, laying a wedge inside seven feet, taking over the lead once again at nine under par, but the course struck back, taking. a stroke away from him on that hard fourth hole, where the drive must clear a high mound pitted with what must be the game's largest bunker.

Faldo avoided the bunker, but his ball landed in the high rough, leaving him no option other than a safe seven iron and a wedge to 20 feet. With the bogey, Faldo fell back to eight under par, even with Pavin once again, and with Langer, who was paired with him.

Now Norman was closing in as well. Driving as well as he ever had (he didn't miss a fairway all day), he laced a six iron to 10 feet on the first, dropping him to seven under par and within one stroke of the lead, but he missed a great chance for another on the seventh. Perhaps the longest straight driver in the game, Norman drilled another long tee shot that brought the green of this 530-yard par 5, within six- iron range. His ball stopped about 25 feet from the hole, but Greg three-putted, losing a chance to pull even with Faldo and Pavin.

While Norman was giving away an opportunity, Couples, who was paired with him, struggled with an inconsistent game. A bogey on the fourth, where his approach rolled down the slope to the right of the green, dropped him to five under, and then he drove into a fairway bunker on the seventh. His ball lodged among the layers of sod, giving him very little chance to playa reasonable second. From there he advanced the ball only about 30 yards, his third shot ran to the back of the green about 40 feet past the hole" and he too needed three putts. Another bogey, and Couples fell further back, now only four under par for 43 holes.

As Norman and Couples struggled, cheers from behind them led their gallery to believe Faldo was doing great things, but it turned out the cheering had been for a save by Langer on the fourth hole, where he drove into the rough and needed two more shots to reach the green before holing from 12 feet.

A big drive on the seventh and a four iron to 18 feet set up a two-putt birdie, and when Faldo couldn't answer, instead pushing his second shot into a bunker and struggling to hole a three-foot putt to save a par, Langer slipped into a tie for the lead at eight under par with Faldo and Pavin.

As quickly as he tied for the lead, though, Langer dropped behind. His drive on the eighth drifted into the right rough, and he followed with an inexcusable shot, a four iron pushed far right. His ball skimmed along the line of spectators held back by ropes that cordon off the fairways, barely missed a woman leaning over to watch him, flew behind the head of an observer seated on a shooting stick inside the ropes, and disappeared into a lonely, full-bodied hawthorn bush sitting on a hillside at least 15 yards short of the green, and perhaps 15 yards to the right. It was a4 terrible shot, and Langer was lucky to find his ball.

But he did. It was clearly unplayable, and it cost him a double-bogey 6. He was two strokes behind Faldo and Pavin now.

Up ahead, Pavin, had gone out in 33 and started back by saving a par on the 10th with deft work around the green, chipping to four feet after missing with a five-iron approach, and holing the putt. He stood eight under par, still even with Faldo.

Corey continued to play error-free golf until he reached the 15th. He drove well, leaving himself 162 yards short of the green, but from there he evidently under-clubbed. Three bunkers cross the fairways like pearls in a necklace a few yards short of the green. When his ball caught the top of the bunker's face, killing its forward momentum, Pavin cried, 'Oh, no.'

His ball pulled up a good 10 feet short, and he bogeyed, dropping a stroke behind Faldo and Norman, who by then had birdied the 11th with a long, 30-foot putt.

Pavin is a fighter, though; he doesn't give up easily. Realizing he needed a birdie, he rifled a five iron to the 16th about 30 feet from the cup. As confident a putter as ever lived, Corey stroked his ball into the cup. Back to eight under par, tied with Faldo.

Just as Pavin was birdying the 16th,Norman, immediately behind him, missed the 15th green to the right, putted up the slope, and bogeyed, dropping back to seven under. Routine pars on both the 16th and 17th brought him to the trying finishing hole. There he hit a screaming drive that seemed would never come down. When it did, Norman had nothing but a five iron left on a hole where Grady couldn't reach the green with two drivers. Greg's approach rolled off the back of the green, but a chip to five feet and a nerveless putt earned him his par.

That is how Norman finished, shooting 69, tying Langer, who shot 70, at 203, one stroke behind Faldo and Pavin, the co-leaders at 202, eight under par.

As machine-like as ever, Faldo had ground out 14 consecutive pars after his bogey on the fourth, and he struggled for only three of those-on the sixth, where he holed from six feet after mis-hitting his tee shot; on the seventh, and on the 16th, where he ran in another six-footer.

Playing much better than anyone could have anticipated, Senior shot 70 and matched Price at 205, and Seve Ballesteros shot 69, not low enough to make him a threat but plenty good enough to delight his fans.

Writers Robert Sommers Raymond Jacobs Michael Mcdonnell Michael Williams Marino Parascenzo Alistar Nicol John Hopkins	Photographers Lawrence Levy Michael Cohen
	Editor Bev Norwood