Sunny start

Mother nature smiles on the field at the start of round three

07/19/03 10:05am EDT
SANDWICH, England (AP) -- Nick Faldo knew it was a morning to go low.

The three-time British Open champion shot a 4-under-par 67 Saturday in the third round at Royal St. George's, finding himself just five strokes behind leader Davis Love III after the best round of the tournament thus far.

"It was that classic early Saturday morning round," Faldo said. "You have a free run at it, so you just go play."

Love, the only player below par after 36 holes, was teeing off later in the day, when conditions figured to toughen. A blazing sun baked the already rock-hard course, and gusts off Sandwich Bay would make things even more treacherous.

None of that bothered Faldo, who extended his British Open record by shooting his 35th round in the 60s. Last year, the Englishman broke Jack Nicklaus' mark of 33, while Tiger Woods is lurking further back in the rearview mirror with 11.

"I wanted to get one more so I can keep Tiger at bay for a couple of more years," Faldo quipped.

He closed with birdies on two of the toughest holes on the course.

At No. 17, Faldo smoked a 3-iron that stopped 4 feet from the cup. At 18, he hit another solid drive, knocked a 7-iron to 8 feet and sank the putt while the home crowd roared.

"What a great finish," Faldo said. "That's not what I expected."

He wasn't the only player going low. Brian Davis, who needed a 12-footer on 18 the previous day just to make the cut, shot 68. In fact, four of the first five finishers broke par.

Over the first two days, only 13 scores were recorded in red.

"The first five holes, the greens were relatively soft -- if you can call them soft -- but once we got into the back nine, you could see them drying out and getting crusty," Davis said. "Obviously, the leaders have to deal with that this afternoon."

Just another British Open, where the humps and hollows of links golf tend to create all sorts of craziness.

U.S. Open champion Jim Furyk? He missed the cut.

S.K. Ho, Hennie Otto and Marco Ruiz? They headed to the weekend not far off the lead.

Love, the lone conqueror of par at the midway point, used a freak bounce and some clutch putts to build a two-shot lead Friday.

Still, he spoke cautiously about heading into the weekend with more than two dozen players -- Woods and defending champion Ernie Els among them -- within five shots of the lead.

"This is one that gets you focused on the task at hand," Love said after his 1-over 72. "It's not going to be just a golf shot, or a putting contest. It's going to be a big mental test."

Ho, a South Korean who plays on the Japanese tour, and Thomas Bjorn of Denmark were at 143.

Three strokes behind were Sergio Garcia (71), Kenny Perry (70) and Thomas Levet (73), the Frenchman who lost to Els in a playoff at Muirfield last year.

And the Big Easy? Don't count him out, either.

Els recovered from a 78 by giving himself birdie chances at every turn and finishing with a 68, the only guy to break 70 on Friday. He was at 146, along with Phil Mickelson (72), Nick Price (72) and Fred Couples (75).

"At least I've got a chance now," Els said.