Norman and Faldo Tie for Lead at Midpoint of British Open Contest

An 80-yard wedge shot for an eagle-3 by Greg Norman and a seven-birdie round by Nick Faldo left the world’s top two golfers tied for the lead midway through the British Open today, where even par didn’t make the grade.

The two champions finished the 36 holes at 12-under-par 132, Norman shooting a second-round 66 and Faldo tying surprising James Spence of England for the tournament’s low round of 65.

They led a record low-scoring field into the final two rounds of the world’s oldest golf tournament. With the last golfers finishing up, it looked as though the cut for the last two rounds would be 141, 1-under par.

The previous record-low cut at the Open was 2-over par 146 at Royal Troon a year ago.

If the projection holds up--and most of the golfers were finished for the day--then lost in the cut will be defending champion Mark Calcavecchia, five-time champ Tom Watson, three-time winner Seve Ballesteros, 1988-89 U.S. Open winner Curtis Strange and 60-year-old Arnold Palmer, the two-time Open winner making his last appearance in the championship.

Norman, the 1986 Open champion, had a round that featured six birdies in addition to the eagle at the par-5 14th. He bogeyed two holes.

He needed every stroke he could muster. Faldo, the Masters champion who succeeded Norman as the Open champion in 1987, birdied the 15th and 16th, both par 4s, to tie, the later with the help of a wedge shot to three feet of the flag.

The co-leaders were four shots ahead of PGA champion Payne Stewart and Australian Craig Parry. Both had second consecutive rounds of 68 and were a shot ahead of Ian Woosnam, Nick Price, Mike Reid and Spence at 137. Woosnam had a second-round 69, Price and Reid 67s.

Starting the day tied for the lead with American longshot Michael Allen, Norman dropped a stroke at the par-4 second hole. But he quickly made that up, taking birdie-3 at the fourth, and then birdied four in a row--the par-4 seventh, par-3 eighth and par-4s nine and 10--to take the lead at 10 under.

A bogey-5 at No. 13 dropped him a stroke behind Faldo and Woosnam. But then came the shot of the tournament so far.

On the 567-yard par-5 14th, Norman lifted his third shot from the left fairway 80 yards out. The ball landed about three feet past the hole, spun back and plopped in the cut.

Allen, a virtual unknown on both the U.S. and European tours, dropped three shots on the front nine, birdied the 10th but dropped another shot on the 14th to stand 3-under.

Calcavecchia and Ballesteros both started the day 1-under par. But Calcavecchia bogeyed the 10th, 14th and 15th, and took a double-bogey 6 on the 13th to finish at 2-over 146, with a second-round 75.

“Idiotic,” Calcavecchia said. He needed two shots to get out of one bunker, “and I fell asleep over a three-footer.”

Ballesteros, meanwhile, was 1-over 145 with a double-bogey 7 at No. 14 and bogey-5s at 10 and 15, in a round of 74.

Watson, starting the day even par, also finished 1-over with a second-round 73.

Spence, inspired by his father’s recovery from a major heart attack last Christmas and playing in the Open for the first time, was the first player out on the Old Course and had an 8-birdie, 1-bogey round of 65, the lowest of the tournament to that point.

Other early finishers included three-time winner Jack Nicklaus, 3-under for the tournament after a second-round 70; Raymond Floyd and Ben Crenshaw at 1-under 143, Floyd with a second-round 71 and Crenshaw a 69.

“I’m in position on the Old Course to win the tournament with two good rounds,” he said. “You just never know what’s going to happen.”

Palmer, in at even-par 144 after a 1-under round of 71 in what will be his last Open.

Conditions were much different from the balmy sunshine of Thursday, but scores continued to plummet. The winds off St. Andrews Bay were light and the home of golf was being attacked, with Stewart doing the best with the early damage.