Faldo

LYTHAM ST. ANNES, England -- All day long he had worked his way through hostile territory. In the company of a thoroughly dangerous man, wending through a sea of bunkers, and in an ocean of fans who screamed for his playing partner and rooted openly for his demise, Tom Lehman labored.So as he stood in the rough at the final hole of Royal Lytham and St. Annes yesterday, an 8-iron in his hand and a lifetime of hard, hard road behind him, Lehman looked like the perfect winner of this British Open.

LYTHAM ST. ANNES, England -- An eerie sort of golf symmetry descended on the Lancashire coast yesterday and covered the British Open. Senior golfers acted their age, obscure major pretenders drifted out to the Irish Sea and the major players positioned themselves for either a Masters reprise or a Grand Slam blowout.Tom Lehman, who held the third-round lead in the 1994 Masters, shared it in the 1995 U.S. Open and held it just a month ago in the U.S. Open at Oakland Hills, is back there again.

BLOOMFIELD HILLS, Mich. -- Two months ago, after he had coughed up the Masters, Greg Norman said that he still felt he was destined to do "something special" in the game that has made him rich, famous and frustrated.Norman was alluding to major championships to come, but the man answering questions about golf's Grand Slam, of course, isn't Norman, but Nick Faldo. The Shark-catching Brit won his third Masters in April, and now that the U.S. Open has taken over the major stage, is there any more logical choice to tame a soggy Oakland Hills Country Club and some typically nasty Open rough than Faldo?

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- The putt rolled into the hole and Nick Faldo raised his hands in triumph as a cheer echoed through the tall pines at Augusta National.Greg Norman smiled as he walked toward Faldo, hand outstretched in congratulation, putting on the noble loser show again, chin up, jolly good. How many times have we seen it?Faldo wasn't buying. This loss was different, a loss against which to measure all other losses. Not a defeat for Norman so much as a public humiliation.Golf, the cruelest game, had outdone itself this time.

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Phil Mickelson continued his progression at the Masters yesterday.The 25-year-old left-hander from Arizona began the final round in third place, and that's where he ended, with his second straight 72. Mickelson finished 6-under, six strokes behind Nick Faldo and one behind Greg Norman. He tied for 46th as a Masters rookie in 1991, tied for 34th in 1993 and tied for seventh last year."When I had opportunities to get it going, it just stalled the last three days," said Mickelson, who opened the tournament with a 65.What did Mickelson think of Norman's final-round collapse to a final round 78?

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- The 60th Masters will be recalled forever as Greg Norman's Greatest Choke, and Nick Faldo knows it."I hope I'm remembered for shooting a 67 on the last day and storming through," Faldo said, "and not what happened to Greg."That would be the biggest collapse in the history of golf's four major championships. Faldo finished 12-under after that sterling 67 to become only the seventh man to win the Masters three times, but the more compelling numbers at Augusta National Golf Club were provided by Norman, who had a pitiful 78 to crawl in five strokes back.

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Is this a golf tournament or a coronation?The majority of the players will have to get up off their knees for the final round of the Masters. Some fell to Augusta National Golf Club yesterday, but all paid homage to Greg Norman, who again added two strokes to his lead and showed signs that there will be no major fold from him this time."I'm just going out there as if nobody's got a lead," Norman said of today's final round, in which he will attempt to win his first major championship in the United States, let alone his first Masters.

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- The hardest hole of the day turned into a springboard for Greg Norman.After his three-foot birdie attempt slid by the cup at No. 11, Norman was getting impatient in the second round of the Masters. He shook his head and tried to get the stroke back at No. 12, where the wind above the pines nearly pushed his 7-iron vTC moonshot into Rae's Creek.Fourteen inches from a penalty stroke, Norman considered his good fortune, chipped to within one foot to save par, then birdied three of the last six holes to post a 69."

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- He is threatening to turn the Masters into a private victory tour, hammering Augusta National as few have before.But did Greg Norman sleep the easy, carefree sleep of a winner last night?What do you think? He looked up and saw Nick Faldo in his rear-view mirror late yesterday afternoon, matching him birdie for birdie, bearing down on him with that metronomic swing and unblinking gaze.It's only the most frightening sight in all of golf.Did Norman sleep easy last night? No way.Sure, he doubled the size of his lead during yesterday's second round, stapling a 69 onto his first-round 63 and putting six strokes between himself and every other golfer in the field except one.If that one exception were anyone other than Faldo, Norman almost could begin to celebrate.

ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- The opening day of the 31st Ryder Cup started out wet and wild yesterday at Oak Hill Country Club. After nearly 12 hours of often sloshy golf, it also turned out to be a bright day for U.S. hopes in this biennial classic.The Americans survived torrential rains in the morning round of alternate-shot play, as well as an afternoon chill during best-ball competition, to take a 5-3 lead over the Europeans going into the second day of the three-day event.Behind a remarkable performance by its Ryder Cup rookies, and some spectacular moments from veterans Corey Pavin and Davis Love III, the United States took a significant step toward winning the competition for the third straight time.