Nicklaus Starts Badly and Ends Worse With a 77

The Jack Nicklaus bandwagon at the British Open came to an abrupt halt Saturday. A six-over-par 77 will do that every time.

Nicklaus birdied the last hole at Royal Lytham to avoid falling all the way back to even par for 54 holes. As it is, his 212 total is one under par.

Nicklaus hit some drives so far into the bushes, you wouldn’t send a hedgehog in there.

“We really should be able to hit a ball without hooking,” Nicklaus said.

From one shot off the 36-hole lead, Nicklaus, 56, begins the fourth round of his 35th consecutive British Open 14 shots behind Tom Lehman.

Nicklaus started with bogeys on Nos. 1 and 3, and the bogey race was on. He had eight in all, but they all could be explained.

“On this course, when things are not going right, you can go bogey, bogey, bogey,” he said. “I got myself behind, and I just could not catch up.

“I have had some pretty bad rounds in the past. I can bounce back. I will just go out and try to do the best I can.”

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John Daly made par on the last 11 holes, finished with a 69, took a look at his 212 total, then assessed his chances.

“Not too good,” he said.

The defending champion bogeyed the par-four third when he drove into a bunker and wound up two-putting from 20 feet. But he birdied the back-to-back par fives, the sixth and seventh, by rolling in five-foot putts.

After that, Daly could get nothing going, and that’s why he doesn’t think things are going to go his way today.

“My chances are pretty hopeless unless I shoot 61, and on this course I don’t think that is possible,” Daly said.

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It has been a roller-coaster British Open for Tiger Woods, which probably is why he is thinking about riding the ride in the amusement park at Blackpool before he heads home.

Woods had three birdies on the front nine and two bogeys on the back to add a 70 to his previous rounds of 75-66.

Woods’ 211 total is two under par, and he believed he could have done a lot better.

“Nothing went in,” he said. “I didn’t hit any shots on line. It was difficult to fire at the pin, but I didn’t make any putts.”

Woods tied for 68th last year at St. Andrews in his first British Open. In his six majors, Woods has made four cuts--two at the British Open, the 1995 Masters and the U.S. Open at Oakland Hills.

He missed the cut in the Masters this year and withdrew from the 1995 U.S. Open because of a sore wrist.

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After nine holes Saturday, Greg Norman was six under for the tournament, but he shot 39 on the back nine and finished with a 71.

Norman’s total of 210 is 12 shots behind Lehman.

“It does not look good for me,” Norman said.

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He’s playing in his first British Open, but Steve Stricker is making the most of it. His 66 put him at 207.

Stricker, 29, who has won the Kemper Open and Western Open this year, works with his wife, Nicki, as caddie.

“We hit good shots and poor shots together,” he said.

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Carl Mason of England is at five-under 208, but he would be doing a lot better if he could skip the 467-yard par-four 17th hole--triple-bogey Friday and triple-bogey again Saturday.

“Obviously it’s not my favorite hole,” said Mason, a master of understatement. “I really can’t say what I’d like to do with it.”