- 2nd Day
of the Championship
- Report by Sally Devine &
photos by Patrick Trollope
-
WEATHER conditions were much
improved for the second day of the Open, the wind having eased and
the rain holding off for those players who were out on the course
early. Crowds were poured into Royal Birkdale and have surpassed
yesterday's attendance of 36,500 by 44,500. Again up by 500 on
1998's figures.
Australian, Greg Norman teed off at
7:47am GMT alongside Robert Karlsson of Sweden and Woody Austin from
the USA. Norman, who is now 53 years old, has a caddy, who is even
older than himself. American born Linn Strickler is 58 years of age
and comes from Clearwater in Florida. He previously spent 14 years
caddying for Ben Crenshaw. Norman encountered problems at the 6th
hole, shooting into the rough before making a six. However, he
recovered from this with a birdie on the seventh and went into the
clubhouse as leader on par with a round of 70. Accompanied later by
his wife, former Ladies Wimbledon champion Chris Evert, he replied,
when asked, that he did not expect to be in this position on the
second day of the tournament.
Local boy, Nick Dougherty is still on course to survive the half way
cut in the tournament but still needs to work on his game if he is
to have any chance of being successful. The crowd are very much
behind him, willing him on and would be delighted to see the Bootle
born man finish at least in the top three come Sunday.
Last group out today to tee off at 4:21pm GMT included Englishman
Gary Boyd, preceded by Jamie Howarth. 10 over could be the yardstick
for those hoping to make the cut, much depended on the strength of
the wind in the afternoon, holes number 6 and 16 being particularly
exposed to the severe 40 to 45mph cross winds which gust across this
course. However, Nick Dougherty, after a stunning round said:-
"It was nice to shoot a half decent score today. I didn't play very
well, particularly… It's nice to make the cut, as the last few weeks
have been tough. Certainly I wouldn't want to come here and miss the
cut like I did at Hoylake, when I let everyone down."
The controversial hole 17 was the scene of a very interesting event,
when Pablo Larrazabal hit the ball into the side-viewing stand,
narrowly missing the spectators. The ball miraculously ricocheted
off and then back on to the course. "If only this was snooker"
one of the spectators near by said out loud. Also on the 17th,
Sergio Garcia stunned the crowed by an amazing birdie, but sadly
messed it up on the 18th:- "I though I could get it to 2 over
for the tournament, if I kept playing well, given the weather
conditions being better than yesterday. Obviously 10 and 11, rubbed
on me a little bit and it took me a little while to get over it. I
made the birdie on 17, but then screwed up on 18th, with a 3 putt
bogey."
After Jean Van de Velde's round, he was asked:- "Were the
criticisms of the course fair?" to this he replied:-
"The morning was brutal. The images I saw, the weather was out of
control. It was I guess in the morning a bit borderline. But that's
the luck of the draw. You need to be lucky with the elements. You
could argue 11 played a bit long in the conditions, but what can you
do? The pins were the elements, some serious slopes out there. It
was very hard to make up and downs. If you get off to a bad start,
you get frustrated and then all you see is difficulty on the course.
On 15, I got to the green in four and I had a horrible putt, finding
the wrong side of the crest, maybe eight yards away and I three
putted! It's easy for things like that to happen."
Having a very bad day was Mark O'Meara, who after his round told the
media that:- "I putted so badly for two days, my short game
wasn't very good and golf striking wise, it wasn't too good either.
Having said that I actually hit the ball better today than I did
yesterday! I just started making bogies, three putting… Conditions
were pretty similar to yesterday, a bit misty when we first started
off. I actually hit the ball good on the front nine and shot over,
but then I dropped seven shots on the back. So I am not really a
happy camper right now." The question:- "You don't
think you'll be here for the weekend then on 11 over?" was
put to him. He quickly responded:- "No! I don't think so -
unfortunately."
The enigmatic figure of John Daly teed off in mid afternoon to
rapturous applause from the packed galleries. The self styled
wildman may not be the Daly of old but, against his doctor's orders,
has made it to the Championship. A thunderous drive whistled over
the crowd like an exocet, but 14 over, after the seventh hole, does
not bode well for him, as he trudged off, hands in pockets.
Colin Montgomerie too is being followed by a heavy crowd presence
which would be delighted to see the Scotsman succeed on Sunday
evening. The course itself is superb for the spectators with the
many vantage points on high ground bringing unobstructed views for
them.
After Greg Norman had topped the leader board for most of the day, a
new name eclipsed him as the evening light faded. KJ Choi from
Korea, with a stunning putt on the 18th hole, became the name at the
top of the pile, birdies on the 17th and 18th holes securing him the
honour.
Current champion, Padraig Harrington finished a respectable 2 over
par, setting himself up nicely for the last 2 days. Englishman Ian
Poulter, a vision in turquoise check trousers, finished on plus 3.
Colin Montgomerie saved his bacon on the 18th to qualify for
tomorrow's third day, to the delight of the crowd, who had lingered
to watch the old warhorse in action. A magnificent lofted shot at
the 17th hole setting him up nicely.
With the weather outlook for the rest of the Championship is looking
to be very changeable, with Saturday having a forecast of:-
"sunny intervals with a risk of a few showers. Winds North Westerly
35 to 45mph, gusting." Sunday being Mainly dry with sunny spells,
but risks of showers. Winds decreasing from 35mph to 15 to 20mph.
And gusts of up to 25mph predicted…" it will be interesting
to see what will happen As Serio Garcia said:- "It is still a
wide open tournament and I have to keep fighting hard, there's still
two days to go and they are going to be tough conditions."
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