Seve Ballesteros continued his extraordinary play from Royal Lytham`s yawning pot bunkers, saving par all four times he has been in one in the first three rounds after saving par 14 of 15 times when he won here in 1979.
And his adventures in the rough also continue. Sunday, he drove into a bush on the par-5 sixth hole, but couldn`t take a penalty-stroke drop two club lengths away because his swing would have been resticted (he also was blocked from walking back). So he tried to hit a sand wedge left-handed, but moved the ball just a foot. And he faced the same problem again.
”This time I swing a little harder,” Ballesteros said, ”you know, like one for practice, one to come out.” Asked why he attempted such a shot, he added: ”You know me. I`m usually all over the place, so I`m in position more than anybody else to do that shot.”
– Here`s the difference between professional golfers and human beings who play golf: Sandy Lyle said he was sometimes hitting his 1-iron from the tee without a tee peg to keep it lower.
”Sometimes I want to get topspin on it to get the ball to roll over (in the air) and stay down.” Oh.
– Lyle on playing Monday in the group ahead of the three leaders, including notoriously deliberate Nick Faldo: ”That`s good. I`ll be in the clubhouse for about an hour before they get in.”
– Lanny Wadkins scored a hole-in-one on the 206-yard par-3 first hole with a 5-iron Sunday, then quickly gave it back, double-bogeying the par-4 third. Then he birdied Nos. 6, 9 and 10 and bogeyed Nos. 8, 14 and 15 for an even-par 71.
– European tour player David J. Russell from England tied the front-nine record with a 29 that included a putt for birdie on No. 9 that was left hanging on the edge. Not bad for someone nervous about playing with Jack Nicklaus.
”I`ve never felt that nervous,” he said. ”Thinking about it on the first tee, I told my wife to take me home. Then I hit the stick with my first shot, but I still felt nervous.” Nicklaus shot a 75.
– Hubert Green, who was 5 under through seven holes when Saturday`s round was canceled because of rain, shot a 73. ”This tournament is run by the R&A
(Royal and Ancient Golf Club). I`m an individual player. There`s nothing I can do,” said Green. ”Maybe I could have shot a worse score yesterday if I kept playing. Usually, I hate to play in rain and wind.” But Green did admit the R&A was ”caught with their pants down” by a bad weather forecast.
”There were no squeegees (to wipe water off the greens), the pins were in the wrong place. They were fooled by the weather forecast,” he said.
– Paul Azinger, who said ”I just haven`t been worth a darn, except Saturday,” was still upset about losing his 3-under score through 6 holes Saturday. ”I just think if you`ve played a shot, it should count.”
– Northwestern`s Jim Benepe made an early run with four birdies on the front nine, but then bogeyed Nos. 12, 14, 15 and 17 before birdieing 18 with a 25-foot putt to finish with a 70. He`s 4 over for the tournament.
”I had an opportunity to make a big jump, and now it`s just a mediocre round,” he lamented.
As for his first British Open, he said the conditions didn`t surprise him, but the fans did. ”They`re really true golf fans,” he said. ”They just want to see good golf. I`m pretty much an unknown here, but when you hit a good shot, people really love it.”
– Attendance was 41,332 Sunday, including 12,680 who had tickets from Saturday`s washed-out round.
– Bob Charles seemed to clinch the over-50 tournament with a 69, his second round of par or better, for a three-day 214, just eight shots out of the lead. Gary Player had a 73 for 221.
