Turnberry, July 18: This British Open was supposed to be all about whether Tiger Woods could claim his 15th major title.
Instead the world number one is flying home to Florida and, after a day of extraordinary drama at Turnberry on Friday, the issue is whether Tom Watson can win a sixth Open title at the age of 59.
As Woods was struggling for survival, Watson produced a consumate display of gutsy golf to follow up his opening 65 with a second round 70 that left him tied for the halfway lead with Steve Marino.
What Woods would have given for a slice of Watson’s composure in adversity.
Having got himself to even par for the tournament after seven holes, the best golfer on the planet fell apart around the turn with double bogeys on the 10th, where he lost a ball, and 13th, where he took four to get down from the edge of the green, effectively sealing his fate.
Watson, in contrast, battled back from three over at the turn and holed a monster putt on the 18th green to join Marino in the lead.
Only once since he turned professional has Woods missed the cut in a major tournament. That was at the 2006 US Open in the aftermath of his father Earl’s death and he admitted he simply had not been good enough here to make the weekend.
“After seven holes I was right there in the championship,” he said. “I thought if could post level par for the round I would probably be in the top ten. But I didn’t do that. I went the other way.
“I had a few really poor holes in a row. I hit a few bad shots. It just seemed to be problem after problem and I kept compounding it.”
Watson admitted he had been shocked to learn that Woods was out but underlined that playing links golf in the kind of tough, windy conditions of Friday could unravel the best of games.
“When you’re not very confident about where you’re hitting it and you start hitting it sideways a few times, then it gets to you,” he said. “I don’t care how good you are, it gets to you.”
First round leader leader Miguel Angel Jimenez fell back with a second round 73 but Marino mastered the conditions to add a 68 to his opening 67.
That represented a remarkable couple of days work for a player who only got into his first Open as a reserve after Shingo Katayama pulled out injured and had his first look at a links course on Tuesday.
“I had no idea I was going to be here,” said Marino, who was playing in the John Deere Classic when he found out he was in the Open. “I had to send my dad down to Florida to get my passport FedEx-ed up to me in Illinois so I could get on the charter plane over. But I’m happy to be here. It’s been a blast.”
Marino and Watson were a shot clear of another veteran American, Mark Calcavecchia, the Open champion at nearby Troon 20 years ago, who shot a 69.
Japan’s Kenichi Kuboya, who had started at five under, lost a ball off the tee at the 13th and ran up a double bogey six which resulted in him carding a two-over 73 to join the group on three under, alongside Jimenez, Retief Goosen, Ross Fisher and Vijay Singh.
—-Agencies