Leader O’Grady Has a Shark on Tail : Norman Just Two Back After Three Rounds at La Costa

Mac O’Grady has a shark on his tail.

But is he worried?

Of course, he’s worried.

“Where is Norman?” O’Grady asked after coming off the course Friday at La Costa with the third- round lead in the MONY Tournament of Champions. He was referring, of course, to Greg Norman, the world’s No. 1 player.

“Two back,” someone answered.

“Oooh, boy,” O’Grady said.

O’Grady, who shared the first-round lead, had the leader board’s penthouse all to himself Friday with a two-under-par 70 for a three-round total of 207, nine under par.

Norman also shot a 70 and is circling at 209.

While Norman said he likes his position, O’Grady said he has the Great White Shark right where he wants him. He just hopes he can keep him there.

“I’m such a competitor, I like having Norman on my tail,” O’Grady said. “I like the challenge.”

But while it may sound dramatic, sending last year’s leading money winner, the fair-haired Norman, out to do battle with the leading money loser, the controversial O’Grady, this is hardly a two-man show.

O’Grady and Norman are not paired in today’s final round, for which O’Grady is thankful.

“I’d try to dunk him, and he’d try to dunk me,” O’Grady said.

O’Grady is paired again with second-round leader Rick Fehr, who shot a one-over-par 73 Friday to fall one stroke back at 208.

Another stroke back, tied with Norman, is the quiet but dangerous John Mahaffey, who shot a third-round 71.

Also remaining in sight of the leader are Hal Sutton and Mark Calcavecchia, who are three strokes behind O’Grady at 210. If you favor the man with the hot hand, keep an eye on Sutton. He shot a 69 the last two days.

The point is that there are more players to watch than O’Grady and Norman.

Besides, these mano a mano confrontations don’t always provide the most entertaining golf.

That certainly was the case Friday, when Norman and Bob Tway were paired together for the first time since last year’s PGA, which Tway won by sinking a chip shot from the bunker on the final hole.

Based on last year’s results, these arguably are the world’s best players. While Norman won a PGA-record $653,296 in 1986, Tway finished only $516 behind.

When they teed off Friday , they had this tournament’s largest gallery with them.

This one was over before it was over.

If it had been match play, it would have been called after the 11th hole. Tway double-bogeyed that hole to go six over par, which is where he finished. After starting the day tied with Norman, four strokes off the lead, Tway’s 78 knocked him out of the chase at one-over par 217.

Norman, meantime, was less than spectacular. He had two birdies and 16 pars.

“I’m 65 to 70% happy with my game,” he said. “I don’t have a lot of rhythm. My feel for the game isn’t really there yet.

“But I’m looking forward to tomorrow. I’d rather be coming from behind than leading. Being rusty and not in a true groove, I have a better shot at winning this way.”

O’Grady said he feels the same way. He also prefers for Norman to be behind him.

“It’s become a cliche out here that you don’t want to be leading,” O’Grady said. “That’s such a defeatist attitude. I’d rather be leading because I’ve been on the other side of the fence so many times.”

Either O’Grady has more adventurous rounds than any of the other players or he is more articulate.

It’s probably the latter. His mouth has gotten him in trouble before, especially last year when he was fined $5,000 and suspended for six weeks for “conduct unbecoming to the tour.”

He said he has two goals for 1987.

One of them is to go the entire year without being fined.

“There won’t be any problem with me,” he said. “I guarantee you that.”

The other is to play better, taking advantage of his four years of tour experience.

He has played better than anyone else this week, but it has been a bumpy ride.

That is what everyone’s putts are getting. While the weather was perfect Friday, until the winds began to gust late in the afternoon, the greens are still soft from the rains early in the week. So anyone who walks on them leaves his print.

Here’s how O’Grady described his dilemma on the sixth hole, where he was looking at a five-foot birdie putt before barely escaping with a bogey.

“It was bizarre,” he said. “You look at the line and see all these footprints. Can you imagine playing billiards and having 30 players having walked on the table before you.

“Fear was rampaging. I couldn’t hit the putt. I had no chance.”

His birdie putt ran four feet past the cup.

“I knew I had no chance to make that one, either,” he said. “I expected the ball to do some squirreling, and it did. It went two feet past the hole.

“One moment, the sword is making you a king. The next moment, it’s lacerating you.”

To put that hole behind him, O’Grady said he relied on advice once given him by Severiano Ballesteros, the Spanish star.

“I asked him once what you do when the atrocities start to eventuate,” O’Grady said.

“He said, ‘You have to forget it.”’

O’Grady said he’s confident he can win today.

“I’d like to think the experience I’ve gained will allow me to endure any kind of tempest that takes place,” he said.

Not to mention whatever atrocities might occur.

The only player who shot better than par in the Senior Tournament of Champions Friday at La Costa was Chi Chi Rodriguez, but Butch Baird retained his lead with an even-par 72.

Baird has a three-round total of 210, six-under par, for a two-stroke lead over Don January. January shot 73 Friday.

The 71 that Rodriguez shot gave him an even-par 216 for the tournament. The only other player in contention is Gene Littler at 217.