BRITISH OPEN NOTES : Mired in a Bad Year, Grady Has Great Day

Wayne Grady picked the wrong day to shoot 64.

One day after Nick Faldo broke Christy O’Connor’s course record with his 63, Grady came back with a round that would have made headlines in ordinary times.

The 35-year-old Australian has been in quite a funk of late, missing seven cuts in the 13 tournaments he has played this year.

“I don’t think $39,000 in 13 tournaments is very successful,” Grady said of his 1993 earnings. “It has been a terrible year.”

Except for one memorable Saturday.

Grady was five under on the front nine, which included an eagle on the par-five, 530-yard seventh hole.

Grady’s career has known extreme highs and lows.

But he had it all going at Royal St. George’s, where he has improved from a 74 to a 68 to a 64.

Grady has known better days. He lost to Mark Calcavecchia in the 1989 British Open playoff at Royal Troon that also included Greg Norman. In 1990, he won the PGA Championship at Shoal Creek.

“If it wasn’t for the PGA, it would be one of those things I’d always look back on,” Grady said of his second-place finish at Royal Troon.

Next year, Grady plans to spend most of his time back home in Australia, though he vows to play the American tour at least one more year.

“I refuse to leave America on a bad tour,” he said. “It’s important to leave after playing very well.”

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Nick Price, on the resurgence of Greg Norman.

“I’m happy he’s playing well again,” Price said. “Golf needs him so much. I think he’s going to win a couple more majors, at least.”

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Nick Faldo’s 63 on Saturday marked his second course record in 12 days. On the final day of the Irish Open at the Jack Nicklaus-designed course in Kilkenny, Faldo shot a seven-under-par 65 as he won the tournament for the third consecutive year.

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After owning a share of the first-round lead, Calcavecchia is eight shots behind after shooting a 71 on Saturday. Calcavecchia is par for the tournament with a three-round total of 210. . . . Payne Stewart, one of the pre-tournament favorites, shot a 70 Saturday and is at three-over 213.