BRITISH OPEN : Leader Is in a World of His Own : Golf: New Zealand's Michael Campbell comes out of nowhere with 65 at St. Andrews. Italy's Rocca trails by two.

By THOMAS BONK

July 23, 1995 12 AM PT

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TIMES STAFF WRITER

ST. ANDREWS, Scotland — It’s the final round of the United Nations British Open today at St. Andrews, where a guy from New Zealand leads a guy from Italy by two shots and a guy from Australia by three shots.

This means that after 54 holes, it’s pretty clear you can’t tell your leaders without a passport.

Michael Campbell of New Zealand is at the top of the list by virtue of the 65 he shot on another wind-blown day in the heather and the gorse and the bunkers of the Old Course.

Campbell’s score of nine-under-par 207 is two shots better than Costantino Rocca, a wisecracking Italian who had a quip ready when asked what winning the British Open would mean to him.

“That I won 125,000 pounds,” Rocca said.

Steve Elkington of Australia shot 69 and is only three behind Campbell at 210 and one shot in front of John Daly, Corey Pavin, Katsuyoshi Tomori of Japan and Ernie Els of South Africa.

All in all, there may be only one way to look at the guys near the lead, Daly said.

“There are great players all over the world,” he said.

The best one Saturday was Campbell, a 26-year-old Maori from Wellington, who may be claimed by Scotland if he wins today. Campbell’s great, great, great, great grandfather, Logan Campbell, moved in 1845 from Edinburgh to New Zealand and was Mayor of Auckland.

“He’s very famous back home,” Campbell said. “Now I think I am.”

Yes, there’s absolutely nothing like shooting a 65 at St. Andrews.

“It was a great, great, great, great day,” Campbell said.

The greatest part of it came at the 17th right after Campbell’s nine-iron second shot landed in the famous Road Bunker, about a foot from the front edge.

Since the bunker is about six feet deep there, Campbell was faced with a difficult decision. He could either try to knock it out by basically blasting the ball straight up or he could bury himself in the sand and try to make himself disappear.

He chose to hit the ball.

“I couldn’t hit it left or right or backwards because I didn’t have a stance,” Campbell said. “I said, ‘OK, either you win or lose here.’ It turned out I was very fortunate.”

Campbell swung and the ball hit the side of the bunker about two or three inches below the lip, popped up, went over the edge and onto the green and stopped about a foot from the hole.

Basically, it was your routine miracle shot.

It worked out a lot better than Campbell hoped, mainly because he was aiming left and expecting the ball to stop about 20 or 30 feet from the hole.

Campbell rolled in the putt, made par on 18, then got out of the wind to consider his good fortune.

“Just unbelievable,” he said. “I did everything right. There’s someone up there who likes me.”

Rocca, a 38-year-old from Bergamo, was the first Italian to make the Ryder Cup team, which he accomplished in 1993. A late bloomer who didn’t turn pro until he was 24, Rocca worked in a box factory for eight years while honing his golf game.

Rocca has won twice on the European PGA Tour, but he doesn’t have a victory this year despite seven top-10 finishes. He explained what has happened.

“I try,” he said. “I don’t won. I try to won. If I won this week, much better.”

To make himself more at home, Rocca has invited about 20 of his friends to spend the week with him. He cooked pasta for everybody Friday night.

Daly cooked up a one-over 73 that could have been a lot worse, especially after he bogeyed No. 15 and double bogeyed No. 17 after driving into a bunker.

But Daly, well, took steps to get some momentum. He bounced his tee shot on the 18th off the front steps of the Royal and Ancient Clubhouse, putted to eight feet, then rolled it in to finish with a birdie.

“I feel like I’ve got a real good chance,” Daly said. “It’s just so much fun to be in contention at St. Andrews.”

It was a no-doughnut, one-muffin round for Daly, who then planned his final preparation for today’s round: two steaks and ice cream for dinner.

“I’m going to have about six cups of chocolate ice cream,” he said. “They don’t have bowls here. You got to eat it out of cups.”

Mark Brooks and Sam Torrance of Scotland are not out of the running at 212, five shots from the lead. There is a six-way tie at 213 where Vijay Singh, Bob Estes, Brad Faxon, Tom Watson, Barry Lane and Brett Ogle begin the day.

Pavin doesn’t consider himself in too bad of a position to make a run at his second consecutive major. The U.S. Open champion dropped a shot when he three-putted the 16th for bogey, but got it back when he birdied the 18th with an 80-foot two-putt.

“I don’t care where I come from, just as long as I get there,” he said.

Campbell’s route to leading the British Open has been a long one. A former squash, baseball and rugby player as a child, Campbell was urged toward golf by his father.

“I think I made the right choice,” Campbell said.

“I’ve been watching the British Open on TV since I was 12 and said one day I will be there to play with Nicklaus, Norman, Watson, my role models. Here I am leading the British Open after three rounds. It’s got a nice ring to it.”

Daly isn’t quite so sure about that. Because he came from obscurity to win the 1991 PGA Championship, Daly might be able to offer some advice to a relative novice to the big time such as Campbell.

“Just go out and make about three or four double bogeys in a row,” Daly said.

Of course he was joking. Daly would just as soon be the one to take the British Open trophy, the Old Claret Jug, home with him.

But if he can’t do it, Daly has lined up a substitute.

“Gonna bring some of these muffins back,” he said.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

BRITISH OPEN

LEADERS

Michael Campbell: 71-71-65--207

Costantino Rocca: 69-70-70--209

Steve Elkington: 72-69-69--210

John Daly: 67-71-73--211

Corey Pavin: 69-70-72--211