That’s just what Norman was doing on Saturday. After two bogeys through three holes, leaving him three shots behind, he was 120 yards away from the green at No. 5 when he asked for a 5-iron before asking for the yardage.

“The yardage was mentioned to me, but I didn’t even pay attention,” Norman said. “I already saw the shot. I knew that was the shot I had to play to get the ball close to the hole. And I did that probably three or four, maybe five times today.”

He also showed some flair, each hole giving him confidence, peeling away time.

Norman hit driver over the corner of some mounding on the eighth hole, leaving him a short pitch to the green where he made a 10-foot birdie putt to get back in the game. Then came another 350-yard drive with the wind at his back, over the grassy humps, bending back toward the fairway and leaving a 6-iron into the par-5 17th for a birdie that stretched his lead.

“Obviously, I played well enough to put myself in this position,” Norman said. “That comes from a good, safe, happy mind in a lot of ways. I’m very content in my mind, but at the same time, I have the lead now.”

With a similar weather forecast for Sunday, anything can happen.

Davis Love III made the cut on the number at 9-over par, then made 16 pars, one birdie and one bogey in his round of 70 and moved up 54 spots into a tie for 15th. Ben Curtis, who won the Open five years ago, holed out for eagle with a 9-iron and hung on for a 70 to move up 33 spots into a tie for fifth at 7-over 217.

Asked what it would mean to win, Norman deferred — for now.

But he is back in the lead, and back in the game.

Norman has said since the day he arrived at Royal Birkdale that this links course is so fair that nobody is a favorite and anybody had a chance to win. That it includes a 53-year-old on his honeymoon is testament to that.

Perhaps the best feeling he had Saturday wasn’t a 5-iron from 120 yards or any other shot he created from feel. It was the nerves and chills he felt walking to the first tee, a sign that he cared.

“It was an indicator for me that I was as nervous as I felt,” Norman said. “I hadn’t felt that way probably for 10 years, maybe even longer. I was excited about being there. I wanted to be there. And I hope I walk to the first tee feeling the same way tomorrow.

“I’m pretty sure I’m going to be,” he said, “because it’s a little different situation.”

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