Today’s Task Is a Familiar One for Faldo

All right, you’re Tom Lehman and you’re at the British Open.

You have a six-shot lead going into the last round of a major championship.

You just can’t lose, so help you Greg Norman, right?

Uh, better think back to the last day of the Masters, when the azaleas were in full bloom and Norman was in full retreat, his six-shot lead eaten up by Nick Faldo more quickly than a biscuit at high tea.

But right after Lehman tossed a course-record 64 at Royal Lytham & St. Annes on a sun-splashed Saturday to take a six-shot lead over Faldo, the British Open started looking like the Masters, only with sycamores instead of azaleas and pot bunkers instead of Rae’s Creek.

Lehman had a full 20 seconds or so to savor his round, as well as his record 54-hole British Open total of 67-67-64--198 before he was tossed the hot Norman-Faldo-Masters potato.

“You mean like lightning striking twice?” Lehman said. “Yeah, I’ve thought about that already. But this is a different place, a different time. I like my situation.”

What’s not to like about a 15-under-par score that’s six shots ahead of the guy closest to you and about six miles ahead of everybody else?

Faldo knows trouble when he sees it. And right now, Lehman is big trouble.

“He’s doing everything right,” Faldo said. “He’s got it all going.”

After Lehman drove into a fairway bunker on the 18th, he ended a bogey-free streak of 34 holes. That’s not merely consistent, it’s downright spooky on this tight layout where there are more bunkers than craters on the moon.

Lehman had eight birdies, one bogey and knocked so many putts into holes so quickly he must have thought the golf balls were allergic to light.

“The ball was just hunting the hole,” he said.

There are a few others still in the hunt for the 125th Open Championship.

Mark Brooks put up a bogey-less 68 and begins today’s last round at eight-under 205. He is joined there by Vijay Singh, who shot a 69. Fred Couples, who shot a 69, and Ernie Els, who had a 71, are at 206.

But it’s going to take a major collapse by Lehman for anyone to get back in it. And Lehman doesn’t expect that to happen.

“I’d rather be six ahead than six behind,” he said. “The ball is in my court, no doubt about it. It’s my tournament to win and it’s my tournament to lose.”

Lehman, 37, has lost major tournaments before. This is the fourth time in the last 27 months that he has led or shared the lead of a major going into the fourth round.

He has yet to win a major.

But if that doesn’t sound so good, Lehman looks at it another way.

“It’s a good time to put together all I’ve learned from the majors in the last three years,” he said.

Faldo has won six major titles, including three at the Masters and three at the British Open, so he probably doesn’t have much more to learn.

What might help, though, is to figure out how to melt down Lehman the way he managed to do to Norman at Augusta.

“Obviously it’s a similar scenario,” Faldo said. “But it’s a different period of time, a different golf course. . . . The objective’s still the same.”

Faldo said he needs to put together something like a 63 today to pass Lehman.

After he bogeyed the fourth hole, Faldo eagled the par-five sixth when he knocked the ball on the green with a nine-iron and made a 25-foot putt. Then he made back-to-back birdies on Nos. 7 and 8 and another at No. 11 to put some pressure on Lehman.

But Lehman wasn’t feeling much of it. Faldo made bogey at Nos. 14 and 16, but hit a seven-iron two feet from the 17th hole and sank the putt for birdie. He felt better after that.

“Of course it’s not over,” Faldo said. “I just have to shoot a good score, simple as that.”

Lehman was simply brilliant. He birdied the first two holes, three of the first four and four of the first six to claim the lead from Peter Hedblom.

On the par-three ninth, Lehman hit a nine-iron to 10 feet and made the putt, which wasn’t anything unusual. Lehman made birdie putts of 18 feet on No. 1, 15 feet on No. 2, 18 inches on No. 4 and 15 feet on No. 6. He even dropped in a 10-foot putt for par on No. 8.

Add it up and that’s a 30 on the front nine.

“Every putt I hit either went in the hole or looked like it was going in the hole,” Lehman said. “I don’t think I could have putted any better.”

Lehman birdied the par-five 11th with an eight-foot putt, birdied the 14th with a six-footer, then snaked in a 35-foot birdie putt on No. 16. By then, he was 16 under par and on his way to a 63 that would have tied the lowest score ever shot in a major championship.

His three-wood into the bunker on No. 18 ended that, but Lehman, who had only 26 putts and 10 one-putt greens, didn’t seem too upset.

“I definitely think I’m playing very well,” he said. “But you know, they don’t give a trophy for three rounds. The way you win is to play one shot at a time.”

Lehman also said he doesn’t think Faldo is going to intimidate him, largely because Lehman already has played against the master. That would be Seve Ballesteros, with whom Lehman was paired on the last day of the Ryder Cup last year at Oak Hill.

Lehman won, and he also learned something from Ballesteros’ body language.

“I think it’s important to walk with your head held high,” he said. “That’s also what Nick Faldo does. That’s why he’s intimidating, like he’s going to go out and kick your butt.”

Is that what Lehman learned?

“You watch those guys,” he said. “Two can play that game.”

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BRITISH OPEN LEADERBOARD

Tom Lehman: 67-67-64--198 -15

Nick Faldo: 68-68-68--204 -9

Vijay Singh: 69-67-69--205 -8

Mark Brooks: 67-70-68--205 -8

Fred Couples: 67-70-69--206 -7

Ernie Els: 68-67-71--206 -7

Steve Stricker: 71-70-66--207 -6

Darren Clarke: 70-68-69--207 -6

Mark McCumber: 67-69-71--207 -6

Shigeki Maruyama: 68-70-69--207 -6

* Complete results: C7

Three-Round Wonder

Tom Lehman has led or been tied for the lead in three majors after the third round before this year’s British Open, though never with as big a lead as he has at Royal Lytham.

1994 MASTERS

* Third Round: Seven under par, led Jose Maria Olazabal by one shot.

* Finish: Second, even-par final round left him two shots behind Olazabal.

1995 U.S. OPEN

* Third round: One under par, tied with Greg Norman, led Phil Mickelson and Bob Tway by one shot.

* Finish: Third, four-over par final round left him three shots behind winner Corey Pavin and one behind Norman.

1996 U.S. OPEN

* Third round: Five under par, led Steve Jones by one shot.

* Finish: Tied for second, one-over final round with bogey on 18 left him one shot behind Jones.