Round 3 Notes: The Senior Open Championship

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BERKSHIRE, England -- Here is where the leaderboard stands after 54 holes:

1. Greg Norman/AUS (-10)
T2. Loren Roberts/USA (-9), Fred Funk/USA (-9)
4. Dennis Watson/ZIM (-8)
T5. Larry Mize/USA (-7), Sam Torrance/SCO (-7)

• Norman, a winner of the 1986 European Open at Sunningdale, shoots for his first victory on the Champions Tour/European Senior Tour tomorrow. Norman took the third-round lead with a bogey-free 6-under 64 today, his low round on the Champions Tour and best score in a major since a 63 in Round 1 of the 1996 Masters. Norman's round also equaled the low score on Saturday.

• This week, Norman is making his ninth career start on the Champions Tour and is making his third appearance in the Senior British Open Championship. Norman finished third in the '05 Senior Open at Royal Aberdeen and was T5 at the '08 Senior Open at Royal Troon.

• Norman's last victory on the PGA TOUR came at the 1997 NEC World Series of Golf and his last win on the European Tour came at the 1994 Johnny Walker Asian Classic. This is the first time he's been a leader after 54 holes of a senior major. In his PGA TOUR career, Norman led or co-led eight major championships after 54 holes and his lone victory came at the 1986 British Open Championship at Turnberry.

• Should Norman go on and win tomorrow, he would become the second Australian to win the Senior Open Championship. In 2001, Ian Stanley claimed the event at Royal County Down in Northern Ireland. Norman would also become the fourth player to win the British Open (1986, 1993) and Senior British Open, joining Bob Charles, Gary Player and Tom Watson.

• Here are the key stats for the three leading players in the championship through 36 holes:

• Mize's 6-under 64 today was his career-low round on the Champions Tour and his lowest score in any major championship since he carded a 64 in Round 3 of the 1994 Open Championship at Turnberry. Mize's 6-under 29 on the back nine was the low 9-hole score on the European Senior Tour this year and also matched the low 9-hole score on the 2009 Champions Tour (Bernhard Langer/back 9, Rd. 1, Mitsubishi Electric Championship).

• Five-time British Open winner Tom Watson, a playoff loser to Stewart Cink in the Open Championship at Turnberry last week, will need a big rally if he hopes to win an unprecedented fourth Senior British Open title and continue a sequence of winning this event in odd years. Watson's even-par 70 today left him at 4-under 206, six strokes back of Greg Norman. The biggest final-round deficit made by a winner was five shots by Player at Turnberry in 1990.

• Langer, a four-time winner on the Champions Tour this year, played his way back into contention with a 5-under 65 today. Langer is only three strokes off the lead after 54 holes of the Senior Open Championship and is bidding to win not only his first major title as a senior but also a third consecutive event on the Champions Tour, having claimed the Triton Financial Classic and 3M Championship in his last two starts.

• The winner of tomorrow's Senior British Open will earn 621 Charles Schwab Cup points. Langer (currently T7 this week) has 1,425 points on the season and leads the Schwab Cup race by 660 points over Mize (currently T5 this week). Michael Allen (currently T14 this week) is third in the race with 720 points. At the end of the official season, the player earning the most Schwab Cup points will receive a $1 million payout.

• Kirk Hanefeld recorded his first career hole-in-one on the Champions Tour when he aced the 176-yard, par-3, 4th hole today at the Old Course at Sunningdale with a 6-iron shot. The ace was the fifth on the Champions Tour this year and the seventh on the European Senior Tour in 2009. With Hanefeld's ace on Saturday, there have now been 10 holes-in-one in this championship since 2004.

• Close finishes have been the norm in this event since it became an official tournament on the Champions Tour in 2003. There have been four playoffs and two other championships were decided by one stroke. Overall, there have been seven playoffs in the 22-year history of the tournament.

• Since 2003, third-round leaders/co-leaders have gone on to win the Senior Open Championship three times but a player has come from off the pace in each of the last two years.

• The field averaged 70.041 (+0.041) today compared to 72.669 in the second round and 71.751 on Thursday. Overall, the Old Course at Sunningdale has played to a stroke average of 71.742. Last year at Royal Troon, the cumulative stroke average after 54 holes was 75.249 (+4.249).

• The hardest hole for the championship continues to be the par-4, No. 2 at Sunningdale, averaging 4.559 for the week. Only eight birdies have been made there for the week and Norman had the only birdie there today. The par-5 1st hole has been the easiest for the week (4.479), yielding 12 eagles and 195 birdies.