British Open Shootout Misfires : Golf: Faldo plays his part with a 67 for a five-shot lead. But Norman’s 76 relegates him to the pack of pursuers.

When the great golf shootout between Greg Norman and Nick Faldo began at the Old Course corral Saturday, only Faldo seemed to have live ammunition. Norman was shooting blanks.

At the end of the massacre, Faldo had a five-stroke lead after three rounds of the 119th British Open, but Norman was nowhere in sight after making six bogeys during a round of 76.

Faldo, the machine-like Englishman who rarely makes mistakes, shot a 67 for a 54-hole score of 67-65-67--199, 17 under par over the venerable and vulnerable Old Course of the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews. It also is three shots better than the Open record for three rounds set by Tom Watson at Muirfield in 1980.

Norman isn’t even the top Australian. That is Ian Baker-Finch, who shot a 64 to share second place at 204 with Payne Stewart, the PGA champion from Orlando, Fla., who had a 68. Another Aussie, Craig Parry, is at 205, and little-known Paul Broadhurst of England is alone at 206 after shooting a nine-under-par 63.

Then come Frank Nobilo of New Zealand and Ian Woosnam of Wales at 207 before Norman appears on the scoreboard at 208 in a six-way tie with Corey Pavin of Oxnard, fellow Americans Peter Jacobsen and Tim Simpson, and Nick Price of Zimbabwe and Vicente Fernandez of Argentina.

Weather more suitable for San Diego than Scotland gave the world’s greatest golfers an opportunity to score to their heart’s delight, and most of them--excluding Norman, the No. 1-ranked golfer in the world--took full advantage.

Forty-nine of the 72 players who survived the cut equaled or bettered par Saturday.

Norman, on the other hand, has played 47 rounds of competitive golf this year and his 76 was his second worst, exceeded only by his opening-round 78 in the Masters, which led to his missing the cut.

“I just putted terrible,” Norman said in an abrupt interview that perfectly summed up his day. He started by taking three putts on the second hole when his second try rolled almost completely around the cup before refusing to drop.

From then on, it appeared that he had a case of putting jitters. He made a bad stroke on two short putts that led to bogeys as he seemed to be struggling to find the pace of the greens.

The coup de grace came when he drove into fairway bunkers on the 12th and 13th holes and made bogeys.

“I had a couple of bad breaks on 12 and 13, and that was the end of my day,” Norman added. “My drive on 12 landed in the middle of the fairway and kicked straight right into the bunker.”

Faldo also had an errant drive on No. 12, but he displayed his mettle.

Faldo’s ball was in thick gorse, bad enough for him to consider taking an unplayable lie. Instead, he hacked the ball out with a sand wedge, then hit another sand wedge pitch and saved par from eight feet.

“I was lucky I could chip it out of the gorse bush,” Faldo said. “It could have been worse.”

Faldo has made only two bogeys in 54 holes, both on the treacherous Road Hole, No. 17, which many of the players rate as the most difficult par four in the world. But each time the hole burned Faldo, he came back quickly to get the shot back. After his bogey Thursday in the first round, Faldo holed out his second shot on No. 18 for an eagle.

Saturday he came within 20 inches of repeating the feat and settled for a birdie.

“I hit a lot of good iron shots, and that’s what you have to do on this course,” Faldo said. “And my putting was obviously great. Greg didn’t seem to have the run of the ball. His putting hurt him. Every time he was not getting the ball close. Three-putting was absolutely killing him. He had a real tough day and handled it very well.”

While most of the golf world--including a record 43,500 who swarmed St. Andrews--was watching the one-sided duel between the 36-hole leaders, Broadhurst and Baker-Finch were doing some fancy shooting of their own.

Broadhurst, 24, in his second season on the European tour, shot 29-34--63, the lowest round posted on the Old Course during an Open. It missed by one shot equaling the St. Andrews standard set by American Curtis Strange in the 1987 Dunhill Cup.

The front-nine 29, later equaled by Baker-Finch, also tied the course record established by Tony Jacklin in 1970.

“I couldn’t really believe what I was doing when I looked up at the leader board and saw that I was eight under (par) after 10 holes,” Broadhurst said. “When I got to six birdies in a row, I really wanted seven because it would beaten my personal record.

“When I started, I had a few friends and relatives from home (Amington, England) and one of my sponsors. As we went along, the gallery built up until a few hundred were following. The reception I got on every hole from the 10th on was fantastic.”

Broadhurst’s streak started on the par-five fifth hole when he reached the green in two. His next five birdie putts ranged from one foot to 15 feet. He almost eagled No. 10 after driving the green. His 40-foot putt hit the back of the hole but didn’t drop.

Baker-Finch didn’t have a streak like Broadhurst, but he had an eagle three on the fifth hole when he reached the green with a four-wood second shot and rolled home a 15-foot putt. He had seven birdies and an eagle in his first 12 holes, but later lost a shot when he made a bogey at No. 17.

Faldo, who has won three of the last 12 major championships, said complacency would not set it for today’s round.

“Am I looking invincible? Not yet, not by a long shot,” he said. “With the low scores some of the guys shot today, anything can happen in the final round. What if a 40 mile an hour wind comes up? I have played it in conditions like that and that changes everything.”

No such winds are predicted, however, so Faldo will probably add his second British Open victory to his Masters trophies of 1989 and 1990.

SCORES LEADERS

Player Score Nick Faldo 67-65-67--199 Payne Stewart 68-68-68--204 Ian Baker-Finch 68-72-64--204 Craig Parry 68-68-69--205 Paul Broadhurst 74-69-63--206 Frank Nobilo 72-67-68--207 Ian Woosnam 68-69-70--207 Greg Norman 66-66-76--208 Peter Jacobsen 68-70-70--208 Tim Simpson 70-69-69--208 Corey Pavin 71-69-68--208 Nick Price 70-67-71--208 Vicente Fernandez 72-67-69--208

OTHERS Player Score Paul Azinger 73-68-68--209 Ben Crenshaw 74-69-68--211 Lee Trevino 69-70-73--212 Raymond Floyd 72-71-71--214 Hale Irwin 72-68-75--215 Jack Nicklaus 71-70-77--218