Third round: Viva Australia
MILWAUKEE (AP) -- Greg Norman won't be the only Australian trying for a win on Sunday.
Fellow countrymen Nick Flanagan and Gavin Coles are tied for the lead at 14 under entering the final round of the US Bank Championship.
And if Norman should go on to become the oldest major champion with a win in the British Open, Coles and Flanagan won't feel overshadowed.
"That would be definitely OK with me," Coles said. "It's going to be unbelievable and I hope he does it."
Flanagan fired a third-round 69, rebounding from a bogey at the 17th by knocking a hybrid to within 12 feet on the 557-yard, par-5 finishing hole and making a tap-in birdie to reclaim a share of the lead after Coles shot 68.
"I thought I hit a perfect putt. I don't know how it missed," Flanagan said of his eagle chance.
Second-round co-leader Richard S. Johnson of Sweden, playing with Flanagan, also just missed an eagle putt at the 18th. But his tap-in birdie allowed him to finish at even-par 70, tied with Jon Mills (64), George McNeill (66) and Ken Duke (68) a stroke back of the leaders.
The low rounds came despite a drizzle that fell most of the day. Coles said the light rain was not a problem because there was no high wind.
"The weather was not a nuisance, and the course was made for some birdies," he said.
Five players were another shot back at 9 under, including defending champion Joe Ogilvie, whose 68 on Saturday puts him in position to win the tournament for the second straight year.
Kenny Perry, whose decision to play the tournament instead of the British Open was panned by players and the media, shot a third-round 69 to get to 6 under -- too far back to have much of a chance at his fourth win this season.
"My goal was to get within three, and I had my chances," said Perry, who won the John Deere Classic last week. "If I could have made a couple putts coming in and got within three, I would have had a shot at this deal. It will take a magical round tomorrow. I'd have to shoot 61 or some crazy number, and that ain't happening right now."
Flanagan, who was promoted after winning three tournaments on the Nationwide Tour in 2007, led at the turn despite a bogey on the par-4 ninth, when he missed a short putt. The bogey dropped him back to 10 under, the score he and Johnson had to share the lead after two rounds.
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| Saturday's Best |
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The par-5, 557-yard 18th was the easiest with a Sunday scoring average of 4.654.
The par-4, 485-yard fourth was the toughest with a Saturday scoring average of 4.308.
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Co-leader Gavin Coles stuck his approach on the par-4 16th to just about a foot from the pin. It almost rolled back in but instead left him a tap-in for birdie. 
Dean Wilson had an impressive third round with a bogey-free 64 -- four of his birdies on the back nine. He jumped 52 spots to a tie for 12th. | QUOTE OF THE DAY | ||
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HE'S FIVE SHOTS BACK
Kenny Perry fired a third-round 69 on Saturday and will enter Sunday's final round trailing by five shots. Perry has come from behind to win in only three of his 12 PGA TOUR titles; however, two of those three came this year when he made up three-shot deficits heading into the final round to win the Memorial Tournament and the Buick Open.
The largest 54-hole comeback in U.S. Bank Championship history occurred in 1990 when Jim Gallagher Jr. came from five shots back of third-round leader Ray Stewart on Sunday to claim his first PGA TOUR title. At the end of Saturday's third round, there were 33 players within five shots of the lead.
Given his performance lately, if there's anyone out of those 33, Perry can overcome the deficit. As for his hot streak, he is at least keeping a part of it alive -- after the third round in Milwaukee, Perry is still all 60s when it comes to rounds. A Saturday 69 came on the heels of a 67 and a 68 in the first and second rounds. So even if he doesn't win this week, if he can shoot another sub-70 round on Sunday, no-one can say he didn't try.
| What the leaders said... | ||||||||||||||||
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INTERNATIONAL INSPIRATION
By now, it's old news that Gavin Coles and Nick Flanagan aren't the only Aussies taking a lead into the final round this weekend, but that doesn't mean the younger Australians didn't have something to say about it.
| 3 | Number of Australians sleeping on a 54-hole lead this weekend |
| 8 | Number of Australians who are competing in Milwaukee this week (three missed the cut) |
| 29 | In years, the age difference between Greg Norman, who leads in England, and Nick Flanagan, who co-leads in Milwaukee |
"You know, we had a lot of great players before Norman, but Norman was getting to number one in the world," Coles said. "And, you know, back in the 60s and 70s, the TV coverage wasn't what it is, say what it was in the 90s. So the profile of Greg Norman through the 80s and 90s and into the year 2000 still, you know, he has a great profile."
Just like Gary Player is to Trevor Immelman, Rory Sabbatini and others, Norman has been an inspiration to aspiring Australian golfers for decades, and if he earned his third British Open title at this age, he'd no doubt start a whole new wave of inspiration down in the Pacific Ocean.
Flanagan knows all about that wave. He received a letter from Norman before his final match in the U.S. Amateur congratulating him on making it that far. "When you get things like that from a guy like him, it's pretty inspiring," Flanagan said. It really makes you appreciate just what those guys are like and what they've done."
Who knows what will happen tomorrow, whether in Wisconsin or England? What's important to these guys is that they keeping making noise out there on TOUR. "To have him leading, then you got two guys this week ... I think there's another five or six guys on the Nationwide top 25 again this year already," Flanagan mused. "So golf in Australia -- we have a lot of talent."
NOT A BAD POSITION TO BE IN
In recent years, the 54-hole leader/co-leader has fared well at the U.S. Bank Championship. Joe Ogilvie became the first come-from-behind winner in Milwaukee since 2002 when he made up a one-shot deficit on overnight leader Tim Herron to claim his first PGA TOUR title last year. Corey Pavin (2006), Ben Crane (2005), Carlos Franco (2004) and Kenny Perry (2003) all held at least a share of the 54-hole lead en route to their wins.
Through three rounds of the U.S. Bank Championship, seven players are within the top 10 on the leaderboard and still looking for their first PGA TOUR title: Gavin Coles, Nick Flanagan, Jon Mills, Ken Duke, Richard S. Johnson, Patrick Sheehan and Brandt Jobe.
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| U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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THREE THINGS TO WATCH ON SUNDAY
1. Kenny Perry. So he's five shots back and therefore not really likely to overcome the deficit and take win No. 4. Who cares? Unless Perry completely bombs on Sunday -- which, you'll agree, probably won't happen -- he's still headed for a great finish. Since when does being a good golfer mean winning every week?
2. Joe Ogilvie. The defending champion is only two shots back in a five-way tie for seventh with absolutely a chance to steal the lead. Australia isn't the only mirror image in this week's events -- like Padraig Harrington (playing in the final group with Norman), Ogilvie has every opportunity to keep that trophy on his mantle.
3. Anybody Australian. In recent weeks, Spain has been the country on a roll -- the national soccer team won the European Championship, Rafael Nadal stole Wimbledon from five-year champion Roger Federer and Sergio Garcia was tagged to win the British Open. Perhaps now it's Australia's turn. Expect the Land Down Under's good fortune this week to fire up some patriotism in the Aussies in the field.
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