GOLF ROUNDUP : Norman Hopes History Doesn’t Repeat Itself

Greg Norman has no use for history, at least his own.

“I don’t (care) what happened last year. That’s dead and gone. I’m just going to try to win the golf tournament tomorrow. If I can do that, I’ll be a happy man,” he said Saturday after an erratic three-under-par 69 that gave him a one-shot lead over Duffy Waldorf going into the final round of the $1.1-million Western Open at Lemont, Ill.

Norman’s lead was cut to one shot when he missed a 2 1/2-foot par putt on the final hole. The bogey put him through three rounds at 205, 11 under par on the Dubsdread course at Cog Hill, the layout that punished him last year.

He took a five-shot lead into the last eight holes a year ago but wasted it with a 41 on the back nine and lost by two shots.

Waldorf scrambled to a 70 that included a 35-foot par putt on the 11th hole and another from 10 feet on the 18th.

“I didn’t have my ‘A’ game today,” he said. “In fact, I slid right by my ‘B’ game to my ‘S’ game. I knew I wasn’t playing very well, and I was just trying to get a score.”

So was Jeff Sluman, who shot a 63 to break the course record set by Robert Gamez in 1989.

Sluman made an eagle and three birdies on the four par-five holes, used only 24 putts and finished with five birdies.

Those heroics lifted him into a tie for third at 207 with Ben Crenshaw, who played without a bogey in a round of 65.

Gibby Gilbert shot a seven-under-par 64 to take a one-stroke lead in the $600,000 Kroger Senior Classic over J.C. Snead.

Gilbert, who won last week’s Southwestern Bell Classic with a Senior Tour record-tying 17 under par score, is 12 under heading into today’s final round at Mason, Ohio.

Snead, with a 66, was the only player within four strokes of Gilbert. Lee Trevino, who had eight birdies in a round of 65 that left him five shots out, said the 6,628-yard Grizzly Course at the Jack Nicklaus Sports Center favored the long-hitting leaders.

“There’s no question in my mind that J.C. or Gibby will win this--unless I go out there tomorrow and have 23 putts or something,” Trevino said.

Deb Richard birdied four of the first five holes on the way to a 66 and took a one-stroke lead over Tammie Green and Meg Mallon after two rounds of the $400,000 LPGA Jamie Farr Toledo Classic.

Richard finished at 137, five under par for two tours of the par-71, 6,270-yard Highland Meadows Golf Club in suburban Toledo.

Green had a share of the lead until a bogey on No. 18 gave her a 68. Mallon, the U.S. Open champion, birdied the final hole for a 70.