Notes: Norman Down, But Not Out

KETTERING, Ohio -- Greg Norman may be down the leaderboard at the U.S. Senior Open, but he's not counting himself out.
 
Norman shot an up-and-down 2-under 69 on Saturday and stands at 6-under 207, five shots behind co-leaders Loren Roberts and Craig Stadler heading into the final round of the U.S. Senior Open.
 
Not surprisingly, Norman still thinks he can win.
 
``I got off to a pretty good start today,'' Norman said after going 5 under in a five-hole span on the front nine. ``I haven't played the back nine well all week. Hopefully there's one in there for me.''
 
Norman had back surgery earlier this year and is just coming back. He played well last week at the Senior British Open in his first over-50 event, and has shown signs of being his old dominating self this week at NCR Country Club.
 
A five-shot deficit isn't insurmountable in the pressure cooker of any major championship. Norman finished while the final groups were still on the course, but he was already thinking about what he needed to do on Sunday.
 
``You know the leader is going to shoot 1- or 2-under, so that means I've got to shoot around 64 to really have a shot at it,'' he said. ``You never know.''
 
NOT SO TERRIFIC TOM:
As he stood over a 12-foot birdie putt at the sixth hole, Tom Watson appeared poised to add to his lead at the U.S. Senior Open. Instead, it was the beginning of a debacle.
 
``I had about 12 feet and I rolled it by about 2 feet, and I shoved it and lipped it out and rolled it back about 6 feet, then missed it coming back,'' Watson said.
 
The double-bogey dropped him two shots behind leader Loren Roberts. The shock didn't wear off right away, either. Watson played the final 12 holes in even-par, unable to make a charge.
 
He now has little margin for error.
 
``I'm still in the golf tournament,'' he said. ``I can't make the mistakes I did today, that's for sure. I can only afford maybe one mistake tomorrow. So that's my game plan: one mistake is all I can afford.''