On the Green

[UPDATE 2:39] Norman nearly sinks the birdie attempt from a long way out. This will undoubtedly earn him par. And there it is. He finishes 2-over. Prepare your bad Tiger/Shark wordplay right now, folks. Choi falls about a foot short in his birdie put. He finishes 4-over and tied for second with Harrington. Ok. That's all folks. Check this space tomorrow for many, many more hours of golf. Norman, meanwhile, becomes the oldest man to lead a major this late in the game.

[UPDATE 2:24] Norman putts for eagle on the much-loved 17th hole...and is about three inches short. He taps it in for par and leads by two. Choi and Norman are the only ones left playing.

[UPDATE 2:07] Choi saves par on 16. He's tied for second with Harrington. Norman sinks the short putt for par to keep him at 3-over.

[UPDATE 2:02] Choi is stuck in the grass again at 16. Harrington being interviewed...and he's gone one of those fun Irish accents. I'll give the advantage to the Scottish brogue, but the Irish inflections are interesting. Ah...wait...I should pay attention to what he's saying: the wrist is fine, he's taking precautions and this round was especially tough with all the wind. Choi is now in a bunker and he somehow chips it to about four feet from the hole. He just keeps putting himself in these situations, doesn't he?

[UPDATE 1:49] Norman with the long putt for birdie and the lead on 15...the ball spins towards the hole but lets up on the final foot or so. Choi misses par on 15 and bogeys the hole. Harrington finishes at 72 for the day and 4-over overall. He's in excellent position for a repeat, come tomorrow. Norman saves par on 15 for the lead.

[UPDATE 1:25] Ouch. Choi misses his birdie attempt by about four inches on 14 - leaving the door slightly ajar for Norman. Norman attempts the appx. six-foot putt for birdie...he sinks it and now owns a share of the lead. By the way, Furyk has tailed off considerably since the 10th hole. He's now 8-over and tied for ninth with six other golfers.

[UPDATE 1:15] Van De Velde finishes at 80. Choi, on 13 for birdie, with a strong wind blowing left to right...and just juuuuuuust sinks it (it hugs the lip before falling). He takes full control ownership of first. Norman, on 13 for a birdie and a share of the lead, was going in the right place but falls just short. He sinks it for par and remains second with Harrington.

[UPDATE 1:00] Ben Curtis is now tied for sixth with four other people. Jean Van De Velde with the eagle on 17. He's 13-over. Three-way tie for first again, between Harrington, Norman and Choi...and Wakefield is fourth. (Harrington birdied 14 to put him at 4-over).

[UPDATE 12:40] Duval sinks birdie at 13. He's 11-over for the day. Harrington pars on 14. Choi, on the 11th, is trying to drive the ball in knee-high grass for his second shot. Not a bad shot, all things considered, and lands on the lip of the green.

An aside: I sort of love seeing all this older men scrambling for the ball whenever it goes out of play. It's just so civilized compared to the Animal Planet-esque scramble for, say, a foul ball.

Well, this is rough. The leaders are shooting a 4-over - that's how bad the weather is. Aaaaaand, ouch. "Either that, or these are some of the worst putters I've ever seen," says unnamed golf announcer (that's my paraphrase at least). "But I'm sure that's not the case."

[UPDATE 12:35] The wind is moving the ball and Choi is, like everyone else, hugely hesitant. No one's been sinking their putts, really. Choi has already addressed the ball and, if the ball moves, it's a penalty. It's been a little bit of an issue with everyone and might come into play later. Ok...he comes back and sinks it for the double bogey on 10.

[UPDATE 12:31] Norman, at 10, for bogey and the lead. And he is psyching himself out something fierce, trying to navigate that wind. He sets, steps away, waves at it a little bit, and re-examines...Norman just turned 54 setting up this shot, y'all. It's rolling, but stops abruptly about two feet from the hole. Harrington misses the birdie attempt at 13.

[UPDATE 12:26] K.J. from the crowd and he places it about 15 feet from the hole. He'll drop at least one shot. Wakefield now in third. Apropos of nothing: Villegas was talking to himself while waiting for 10. Or at least that's what it looked like. A nice, light-hearted conversation.

[UPDATE 12:22] Wind up to 37 mph and the crowd gets smacked by Choi's weather-swept drive. They murmur in indignation. Quoth the announcers: "That is not good." Good job, guys. Wakefield wraps up at 5-over and 70 for the day. Great position for tomorrow.

[UPDATE 12:17] Harrington misses par at 12. Also, out of nowhere, Simon Wakefield seems to be making something of a run. He's 5-over on 17 - enough to earn him a fourth-place tie. Ben Curtis moved up from 38th to 11th so far, just on the strength his even-par performance alone. Somewhere, Tiger Woods is crying a silent tear. Furyk not doing too well after waiting a short lifetime (30 minutes) on 10. Another drive falls into the thick rough.

[UPDATE 12:10] Furyk misses par on 10 by about 10 feet and sinks to fourth. Norman and Choi remain tied atop the leaderboard.

[UPDATE 12:03] Harrington bogeyes on 11 to knock him into fourth. Norman birdies on nine and remains in a first place tie with Furyk and Choi.

[UPDATE 11:49] Choi misses the birdie attempt and the chance to take the lead on nine. Harrington saves par on 10 to keep the deadlock going...Norman follows in Choi's footsteps and misses the birdie attempt by inches, the wind again a big factor. Anthony Kim finishes at 71 with eagle at 17 and par on 18.

[UPDATE 11:34] Choi just misses par on eight. He's now in a three-way lead with Furyk and Harrington at 2-over. The wind is making a lot of golfers, Choi and Norman included, look mighty uncomfortable on the green. That said, Norman just birdied to put him in a four-way tie for the lead.

[UPDATE 11:23] Norman saves par on seven to stay at +3. Villegas misses his birdie attempt and doesn't overtake him. He's at +4. Furyk, meanwhile, has climbed into a third place time with Norman. He's quietly having an excellent round (1-over on the day). Mediate birdies at eighth (against much wind), to put him at +6.

Note: Round three is reaping havok on the golfers. No one has managed to make it under par and the only one who has much of a chance, considered the golfers that went before, is maybe Harrington. He has a real shot at overtaking Choi, who is 2-over for the day and leads the Open at 1-over.

[UPDATE 11:07] Norman, putting uphill and against the wind for par, misses by about six feet. He's quickly losing ground, with Camilo Villegas (+2 over six) breathing down his neck. Sergio Garcia holding strong at +3 for the day through 13. Norman bogeys six. He's 3-over and now tied with Villegas.

[UPDATE 10:57] Harrington misses par on eight by about this much, thanks to the wind. A shrill gasp of indignation makes its way through the crowd. He's still even on the day and 2-over for the Open.

[UPDATE 10:49] Graeme McDowell bogeys the fearful sixth hole, which has only been birdied once in the competition. Norman and Choi will try their hand at in next.

UPDATE 10:43] Duval double-bogeyed the sixth and bogied the seventh to put him at 11-over. After an extremely strong second round (69), it looks as if the magic has worn off.

[UPDATE 10:37] K.J. Choi is even for the day and Norman pars the fourth hole to keep him 2-over. And look at Harrington go - he birdies No. 7 to put him solidly in the second spot at +1.

[UPDATE 10:28] Stuart Appleby birdies the fifth hole to put him at +3 for the Open and +1 on the day. Choi is putting some distance between him and Norman, who has bogeyed two of his three holes so far.

[UPDATE 10:20] Furyk juuuuust misses par on four and eventually bogeys. Choi, meanwhile, is simply not making mistakes. He remains atop the leaderboard with a two shot lead.

[UPDATE 10:10] Harrington birdies on No. 5 on a little chip shot. He's a +2. Ben Curtis has moved into the top 14.

[UPDATE: 10:02] After opening with a double-bogey, Rocco Mediate makes par on No. 2 to stay at +4. There's some concern that play could be suspended because of wind gusts. Stay tuned...

[UPDATE 9:51] Lovely third shot by Choi out of the sand trap to land a few feet off the first hole. Norman drops the shot at the opening hole - again having trouble navigating the 29 mph winds. Furyk rolls one in for par. He's 2-over.

[UPDATE 9:42] Curtis finishes at 19th at 7-over after drawing even on day three. Mickelson finishes with a 76. Jim Furyk hits a little floater out of the rough that lands about 20 feet from the hole on one.

[UPDATE 9:34] Duval goes 1-over on hole two for a +6 on the day. Greg Norman is making his way on to the course. Padraig Harrington (74-68) misses par on the second hole and bogeys for a +3.

[UPDATE 9:18 AM] Bad, bad start for Duval, who putts for a triple bogeu on one. Harsh winds are making it especially difficult on the green, which has been the case for much of the open. Something of note: Henrik Stenson (218) and Davis Love III (219) both finished the third round at even par.