John is Cooking up a Seniors
Open victory at Royal Troon

By STEVE TODD, SENIORS TOUR PRESS OFFICER
John Cook produced a four-under-par 67 - the joint lowest round of the Senior Open Championship so far - to lead going into Sunday's final round at Royal Troon as the American gave himself the chance to banish the pain of missing out on the 1992 Open Championship.
Cook's 67 - a scored matched by Greg Norman in the third r0und, enabled him to take a one- stroke lead ahead of compatriot and overnight leader Bruce Vaughan and move into pole position for his first major championship win.
Vaughan had surged into an early three-stroke advantage following an eagle 3 on the par-5 fourth hole but four successive bogeys, starting on the ninth hole, saw him slip back.
Conversely, Cook, who has made only four bogeys throughout the over-50s championship, once again negotiated Royal Troon with precision and care on a perfect day for low scoring on the Ayrshire links.
He moved to six under par 207 for the championship, with Vaughan a stroke behind on 208, and Argentine Eduardo Romero also in contention on four under par 209
Defending champion Tom Watson is still in the equation at one under par 212 along with Bernhard Langer, while Norman should not be ruled out after reproducing something akin to his Open championship form of last week with a 67 to move to one over par 214, seven shots off the lead.
It is Cook, however, who shaded pre-tournament favourites Langer, Norman and Watson by carding six birdies and just the two bogeys to move into pole position for only his second win as a senior golfer, following his victory at the AT&T Championship on the Champions Tour last year.
The 51 year old said he would go into the final round feeling he had a real chance of landing the title and exorcise the memory of missing out on the 1992 Open Championship at Muirfield where it was his mistakes that cleared the way for Nick Faldo to win.
He said: “I'm very pleased to be where I'm at. I know there's a lot of tournament winners behind me and some very good players, and that's what you want. I came over here to win this championship and if I do the things that I'm supposed to do, and know how to do, I have a good chance. I have to be patient and hit quality golf shots tomorrow, and let it fall where it falls.
“I won 11 times on the US PGA Tour and that's not bad but I did not capture a Major unfortunately. I had a few chances I didn't capitalise on, and that part is missing, and I feel incomplete. That's how you're judged. That's how you're remembered in this game. Fair or unfair, that's just the way it is, and I understand that.
“This would be a very nice win obviously. It would help in the redemption process of 1992, for sure.”
Vaughan, similar to his opening 18 holes, once again had an eventful round, with four birdies, an eagle and the four consecutive bogeys around the turn to card a two under par round of 69.
He said: “It was pretty good to battle back from those four straight bogeys in the middle of the round. I hit the wrong club on the ninth, missed a short one at 10 and messed up on 11. Then we had the yardage wrong at the 12th. It was a battle after that but I settled down and I made a couple of birdies and turned it around. I played good golf today.”
Romero, who has twice finished runner up, is well placed to final break his Senior Open Championship duck after a round of 68 and is confident about his chances of winning.
He said: “This year my putter is working very nicely and I'm a completely different player. I think it's my week.”
Defending champion Watson will need an impressive final round if he is to land a record fourth Senior Open Championship victory after a level par 71.
He said: “It wasn’t a good round for me. I shot even par but I was pretty grateful for that. I hit the ball indifferently today and I got what I deserved. I hit the ball in the rough a few times and I hit a few bad iron shots and I’m going to the practice ground to work on my alignment a little bit.”
Similarly Norman will need to produce something almost as special as his first three rounds at Royal Birkdale but reignited his chances with four birdies to go into the final round on one over par.
The Great White Shark opened with a birdie and the picked up shots on the fourth sixth and 16th holes but felt that he had missed a chance to shoot an even better score in perfect conditions at Royal Troon.
He said: “I’m not very happy to tell you the truth. There wasn’t anything wrong with my game today. I felt like I even putted well but I just didn’t make anything. I was very disappointed with 67 today.
“Today was better than yesterday. Today was really solid. I drove the ball really beautifully and drove it long. I think 67 was the worst score I could have made today.”

HOW THEY STAND
THIRD ROUND TOTALS
Par 213 (3 x 71)
207 J Cook (USA) 69 71 67.
208 B Vaughan (USA) 68 71 69.
209 E Romero (Arg) 68 73 68.
212 T Watson (USA) 70 71 71, B Langer (Ger) 70 71 71.
214 G Norman (Aus) 75 72 67, G Jones (USA) 70 76 68, K Hanefeld (USA) 69 73 72.
216 M James (Eng) 75 73 68, T Johnstone (Zim) 71 74 71; D Merriman (Aus) 74 73 69; K Murota (Jpn) 75 72 69.
217 A Bean (USA) 69 75 73; M McNulty (Irl) 70 72 75; P Blackmar (USA) 74 72 71; J Morse (USA) 70 78 69.
218 J Bland (RSA) 71 76 71; C Rocca (Ita) 73 73 72; G Hallberg (USA) 76 69 73.
219 W Grady (Aus) 74 72 73; M Reid (USA) 73 72 74; T Kite (USA) 76 72 71; I Woosnam (Wal) 75 73 71;
220 K Green (USA) 75 71 74; M O'Meara (USA) 74 75 71; J Chancey (USA) 77 73 70; J Quiros (Esp) 74 78 68; D O'Sullivan (Irl) 75 74 71; T McKnight (USA) 76 76 68; J Bruner (USA) 78 72 70;
221 T Simpson (USA) 75 75 71; J Sindelar (USA) 70 77 74; S Hoch (USA) 79 73 69; N Job (Eng) 69 80 72; E Darcy (Irl) 71 76 74; L Carbonetti (Arg) 72 73 76; R Black (USA) 74 72 75; M Wiebe (USA) 74 76 71;
222 B Boyd (USA) 78 72 72; T Gale (Aus) 78 74 70; P Mitchell (Eng) 74 75 73; M Goodes (USA) 75 74 73; G Koch (USA) 76 76 70; J Sluman (USA) 78 74 70; S Ebihara (Jpn) 75 73 74; A Murray (Eng) 72 76 74; A Adams (USA) 76 71 75; T Conley (USA) 73 74 75;
223 C Rose (USA) 76 73 74; M Poxon (Eng) 75 75 73; M Hulbert (USA) 75 76 72; J Chaffee (USA) 73 75 75, R Drummond (Sco) 72 76 75, S Simpson (USA) 75 77 71; N Ratcliffe (Aus) 76 75 72.
224 T Horton (Eng) 80 72 72; J Rhodes (Eng) 74 75 75; J Hoskison (Eng) 75 77 72; K Tomori (Jpn) 78 73 73; C Stadler (USA) 74 74 76; I Aoki (Jpn) 75 73 76; A Franco (Par) 76 75 73;
225 J Hall (Eng) 73 73 79; J Lapsley (Nzl) 76 73 76; P Hinton (Eng) 77 75 73; B Smit (RSA) 76 74 75.
226 P Oakley (USA) 74 77 75.
228 Y Hagawa (Jpn) 75 76 77; B McColl (Sco) 76 76 76; M Piñero (Esp) 78 72 78.
232 M Williams (Zim) 72 79 81.