GOLF:WHO COULD have scripted it? Not even a fantasist could have dared dream this one up, giving Old Tom – aka Tom Watson – a share of the midway lead in this 138th edition of the British Open; and, the real spice in the mix, sending Tiger Woods, destined to be the greatest player of any era, home from this outpost on the Scottish coast before the really serious business of determining the next custodian of the Claret Jug reached a conclusion.
On a day when the Ailsa links sought to rebuke her suitors, aided and abetted by wind and intermittent rain along with some devilishly difficult pin placements from the Royal and Ancient, Woods – who had not missed a cut in a major since the 2006 US Open at Winged Foot shortly after the death of his father – was among those who failed to come up with the answers to all of the hard questions.
His fallibility confirmed, Woods endured a miserable stretch mid-round when he went bogey, bogey, double bogey, par, bogey, double bogey to drop seven shots in six holes en route to a 74 for 145 (one stroke outside the cut).
So the world’s best departed the championship, leaving Watson, one of the game’s legendary figures, sharing the 36-hole lead with fellow-American Steve Marino on 135, five under par.
“You have to play clean in order to win a major championship. I haven’t done that,” Woods said. “You have to do that in order to win majors, and that’s what I’ve done before in all of my major wins. You have to play clean cards and I just didn’t do it.”
His fate was decreed by a serious of errors which featured two double bogeys on the back nine, including a lost ball on the 10th where the world and its mother looked in vain amid the hay.
Woods had never played so badly in a major as a professional. In fact, the last time he played worse was as an amateur in the 1996 US Open, when he dropped nine shots in the final six holes. This time, though, the failure hurt.
“Obviously, it’s disappointing, there’s no doubt . . . I just made mistakes.”
He wasn’t alone in incurring the wrath of the links. Ben Curtis, the 2003 champion, followed his first day’s 65 with an 80 to also miss the cut, while other casualties included Geoff Ogilvy, Adam Scott, Anthony Kim and David Toms.
In fact, just seven players, as against 50 on Thursday, found a way to better par.
Five of Ireland’s seven players survived the cut, with Graeme McDowell – despite slipping to a 73 for 141 and bemoaning what he termed some “ridiculous” pin positions – heading the challenge. Darren Clarke and Paul McGinley reached the mid-point on 142, and Pádraig Harrington and Rory McIlroy, on 143, also survived for the business end of the championship.
Harrington, who had missed the cut in his previous five events on tour, worked hard to ensure his quest to equal Peter Thomson’s feat of 1956 in winning three consecutive British Opens remained alive. The Dubliner hit only eight of 14 fairways and found only seven of 18 greens in regulation. but kept to his task and scrambled well in forging a 74 – with just one birdie, on the 17th – that ensured his presence at the weekend.
Although he endured a run of three successive bogeys from the seventh, Harrington steadied the ship when it mattered coming in to harbour.
Eight shots behind, was the dream still alive?
“That margin’s not insurmountable on a links golf course, especially one like this . . . . I know I’m running out of holes, 36 holes to go, but if my putts start dropping, I’ll shoot some good scores,” insisted Harrington.
“The good thing about playing the weekend is that I can win the tournament. Ball-striking-wise, I am very happy. I’ve just got to trust (the swing) a bit more and I’ll be right in there.
“The last thing I was doing here was trying to make the cut. Thankfully, as my career goes on, nobody will be counting how many cuts I made or missed. At the top of my CV will be three majors at the moment, and hopefully more to come.”
On this occasion, Harrington, in tied-53rd position, has an uphill task. But at least he has the chance to make up ground. Woods doesn’t.
Instead, Watson, who will be 60 in September, and is attempting to become the oldest winner since Roberto De Vicenzo in 1967 when he was 46 years old, manoeuvred his way into a share of the lead with Marino on 135.
Mark Calcavecchia is one stroke adrift.
The leaders accepted some gifts from the course. Marino – who had never played links golf before his late arrival here after getting in as third alternate – holed out with a 116-yard approach shot on the third for birdie, and also holed a bunker shot on the sixth.
And Watson sank a 60-footer for birdie on the 16th and, then, remarkably, sank another putt from 60-feet on the 18th.
As a five-time winner of the British Open, Watson, more than anyone, knows you take whatever breaks come your way.
“To be able to be doing what I’m doing out here, making a few lucky putts here and there and still feeling like I have a chance to win, that’s pretty cool at age 59. It’s kind of spiritual . . . mentally, I’m in a good place.”
The weekend will tell if the old bones will stay the pace. But the journey, so far, as been wonderful. For everyone.
Open Leaderboard
135 (-5)
Steve Marino (US)67, 68
Tom Watson (US)65, 70
136 (-4)
Mark Calcavecchia (US)67, 69
137 (-3)
Ross Fisher (Eng)69, 68
Retief Goosen (Rsa)67, 70
Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spn)64, 73
Kenichi Kuboya (Jpn)65, 72
Vijay Singh (Fij)67, 70
