For hours on a dank, grey day, it appeared as though the second round of the
Open was going to be dominated by men past their 40th birthday.
Rocco Mediate, 45, went round in 73 to be two over par and Greg Norman, 53,
scored another 70 and at level par held the lead for six hours, threatening
to become the oldest halfway leader of the Open, significantly more mature
than Old Tom Morris, who was 48 when he led the 1869 Open.
Camilo Villegas, 26, had other ideas, however, and a remarkable 65 put the
Colombian within one stroke of Norman and upset the theory that age and
experience counted for so much in a major championship such as this one. In
his first appearance at an Open, Villegas displayed all the irreverence of
youth as he lit up Royal Birkdale's lush fairways with an astonishing round,
which started with two bogeys in succession and ended with five birdies in a
row.
And later still, as a long day, which had begun when the first starters set
off nearly 13 hours earlier, was drawing to a close, K. J. Choi birdied
three of his last six holes for a 67 that gave him a one-stroke lead. Choi,
37, always looks like a labourer returning from a day's work in the fields.
His footfall is heavy and his stride measured. His head is often down, his
face without expression. Although he is a late bloomer, having not taken up
the game until he was 16, there is no doubting his talent and skill now.
The South Korean, who is known universally as KJ, finished eighth in last
year's Open at Carnoustie, has seven victories to his name on the PGA Tour
in the United States and can be considered as the father of Korean golf. As
such, he is an inspiration not only to the likes of Antony Kim, the
American-born son of Korean parents, but also the squads of Korean women
competing so successfully on the LPGA.
Another sign of how golf in the East is improving is that Liang Wenchong
became the first Chinese to win through to the last two days of the Open
Championship. Liang, who won the Singapore Masters on the European Tour last
year, is eight over par. Liang's achievement was beyond the reach of Paul
Lawrie, the 1999 champion, Tom Watson, Ángel Cabrera, Miguel Ángel Jiménez
and Vijay Singh, although Colin Montgomerie and Paul Casey both birdied the
17th to get through at eight and nine over par respectively.
Villegas is rather like another South American, Andrés Romero, who comes from
Argentina, in his ability to rack up birdies. He is thrilling to watch for
the simple reason that, no matter how badly he is playing, there is always a
realistic chance that he will suddenly and unexpectedly reel off three
birdies in succession. Even so, there was a degree of disbelief about the
way Villegas manhandled a course that had contributed to the wrecking of so
many cards on the wet and wild previous day.
The reason for this surprise is that Villegas flew in the face of conventional
wisdom, which says that it takes time to learn to play links golf. Stewart
Cink, the genial American, said recently that after ten years of competing
in the Open, he was still learning how to understand and deal with the
vicissitudes that are a part of a round on a course such as Royal Birkdale.
Yet Villegas is playing in his first Open and his only previous competitive
experience was in two Amateur Championships, at Royal County Down, near
Belfast, in 1999 and at Royal Liverpool, the next year.
Although Villegas's round had that blazing finish, Norman's was no less
exceptional, setting up the possibility of him becoming the oldest winner of
a major championship - older than Julius Boros, who was 48 years, four
months and 18 days when he won the 1968 USPGA Championship and significantly
more mature in years than the previous oldest winner of the Open, Old Tom
Morris, who was 46 when he won in 1867.
Norman does not play much these days and if he plays a sport, it is more often
a game of tennis with his wife, the former Chris Evert. He says he is about
an “18-handicapper” at tennis; she says he is being modest. Norman is
playing in his 26th Open and perhaps part of the reason why he was able to
play two such remarkable rounds when he was far from being in top
competitive condition was that he has so much experience of this form of
golf.
“You draw on past experiences to play certain shots,” Norman said. “Today I
had a shot of 108 yards to the 10th green and played it with an eight-iron.
Most guys try and hit a pitching-wedge up there, but once it gets above the
heads of the spectators, the wind just knocks it back. I started learning to
do this 32 years ago. Australian golf is very much like that and I learnt
that while playing at Royal Melbourne or Kingston Heath. I feel very much at
home here and playing on courses like this one.”
The strongest recorded gust of wind up to early yesterday afternoon was 25mph
and although it looked for a while as though the first morning's foul
weather was to be repeated, the rain soon passed on.
In view of the performances by Mediate and Norman, Jean Van de Velde, 42, was
asked whether wisdom came with age. The Frenchman may have a three-day-old
stubble speckled with flecks of grey, but while he is hardly old enough to
be referred to as a greybeard, nor, in his fifth decade, is he a novice.
He has been playing in the Open since 1991, he is ten years older than Steve
Webster, one playing partner, and 19 years older than Andrew Tampion, the
third member of the trio, and he outscored them comprehensively. “I don't
know. I am too young to tell,” Van de Velde replied, with a devilish Gallic
smile.
Scores after two rounds
Great Britain and Ireland unless stated
*denotes amateur
139: K.J. Choi (S Kor) 72, 67.
140: G Norman (Aus) 70, 70.
141: C Villegas (Col) 76, 65.
142: A Noren (Swe) 72, 70; R Allenby (Aus) 69, 73; J Furyk (US) 71, 71;
G McDowell 69, 73; D Duval (US) 73, 69; R Mediate (US) 69, 73; P Harrington
74, 68.
143: P Hanson (Swe) 71, 72; F Jacobson (Swe) 71, 72; I Poulter 72, 71;
S Appleby (Aus) 72, 71; S Ames (Can) 73, 70.
144: A Wall 71, 73; A Scott (Aus) 70, 74; S Hansen (Den) 75, 69; Jean
Van de Velde (Fr) 73, 71; S Verplank (US) 77, 67; D Horsey 74, 70.
145: *C Wood 75, 70; S García (Sp) 72, 73; Z Johnson (US) 73, 72; J
Williamson (US) 73, 72; S Wakefield 71, 74.
146: R Goosen (SA) 71, 75; A Hansen (Den) 78, 68; R Fisher 72, 74; N
Dougherty 75, 71; G Storm 76, 70; *T Sherreard 77, 69; A Kim (US) 72, 74; J
Rose 74, 72; T Gillis (US) 74, 72; G Havret (Fr) 71, 75; T Aiken (SA) 75, 71.
147: J-B Gonnet (Fr) 75, 72; J Overton (US) 72, 75; D Howell 76, 71; P
Waring 73, 74; B Curtis (US) 78, 69; M Kaymer (Ger) 75, 72; B Jones (Aus)
74, 73; T Lehman (US) 74, 73; Lam Chih Bing (Sing) 72, 75; P Mickelson (US)
79, 68; J Leonard (US) 77, 70; K Stadler (US) 72, 75; M Weir (Can) 71, 76; C
Parry (Aus) 77, 70.
148: S Stricker (US) 77, 71; Bart Bryant (US) 70, 78; C Montgomerie 73,
75; W Austin (US) 76, 72; T Hamilton (US) 74, 74; D Frost (SA) 75, 73; R
Karlsson (Swe) 75, 73; J Rollins (US) 73, 75; T Immelman (SA) 74, 74; S
O'Hair (US) 75, 73; R Finch 75, 73; R Green (Aus) 76, 72; Liang Wenchong
(China) 77, 71; J Lomas 75, 73; G Bourdy (Fr) 74, 74; D Labelle II (US) 78,
70; H Stenson (Swe) 76, 72.
149: M Wiegele (Austria) 75, 74; M Campbell (NZ) 75, 74; A Romero (Arg)
77, 72; D Love III (US) 75, 74; L Glover (US) 78, 71; H Slocum (US) 73, 76;
N O'Hern (Aus) 74, 75; S Khan 77, 72; P Larrazábal (Sp) 75, 74; P Casey 78,
71; J-F Lima (Por) 73, 76; E Els (SA) 80, 69; L Westwood 75, 74; A Cañete
(Arg) 78, 71; P Archer 75, 74.
The following players missed the cut
150: D McGrane 79, 71; J Kingston (SA) 77, 73; A Yano (Japan) 74, 76; P
Edberg (Swe) 76, 74; P Marksaeng (Thai) 77, 73; S McCarron (US) 75, 75; P
Perez (US) 82, 68; P Baker 75, 75; Y Tsukada (Japan) 75, 75; T Watson (US)
74, 76; S Cink (US) 75, 75; A Cejka (Ger) 76, 74; A Baddeley (Aus) 75, 75;
Paul Lawrie 77, 73; P Appleyard 74, 76; R Sterne (SA) 78, 72; J Bevan 78,
72; J Cunliffe (SA) 79, 71.
151: A Tampion (Aus) 78, 73; O Wilson 77, 74; S Kjeldsen (Den) 81, 70;
G Ogilvy (Aus) 77, 74; H Tanihara (Japan) 76, 75; C Howell III (US) 76, 75;
V Singh (Fiji) 80, 71; M O'Meara (US) 74, 77; M Calcavecchia (US) 76, 75; R
Imada (Japan) 77, 74; B Snedeker (US) 72, 79; C Barlow (US) 79, 72.
152: M Letzig (US) 78, 74; D Smail (NZ) 76, 76; B Hume 76, 76; M Kuchar
(US) 79, 73; S Dyson 82, 70; J Edfors (Swe) 78, 74; H Mahan (US) 80, 72; P
Goydos (US) 77, 75; N Fasth (Swe) 79, 73; *B Hébert (Fr) 79, 73.
153: B Weekley (US) 80, 73; T Clark (SA) 76, 77; G Boyd 76, 77.
154: R Pampling (Aus) 77, 77; R Sabbatini (SA) 79, 75; J Quinney (US)
79, 75; M Á Jiménez (Sp) 72, 82; D McGuigan 79, 75; A Que (Phil) 76, 78; Á
Cabrera (Arg) 77, 77.
155: E Porter (Aus) 76, 79; *R Blizard (Aus) 78, 77.
156: J.B. Holmes (US) 79, 77; H Otto (SA) 79, 77; S Strange (Aus) 84,
72; J Elson 78, 78.
157: *R Saxton (Neth) 80, 77; H Iwata (Japan) 73, 84.
158: M Matsumura (Japan) 82, 76; T Petrovic (US) 82, 76; A Blyth (Aus)
81, 77.
159: S Webster 79, 80; P Walton 77, 82; B Lamb (Aus) 85, 74.
160: J Kelly (US) 83, 77; D Fichardt (SA) 82, 78.
161: S Kai (Japan) 80, 81.
163: D Chia (Malaysia) 76, 87.
164: P Fowler (Aus) 82, 82.
169: J Daly (US) 80, 89; J Howarth 85, 84.
