BRITISH OPEN : Bundled-Up Players Bungle Up Scores : Golf: Big names shoot big numbers, but 113 make the cut. Hallberg, Harwood and Oldcorn lead.

Where do we begin? With Lee Trevino’s triple bogey at the last hole? With Tom Watson’s double bogey there? With a front nine by Mark Calcavecchia so nightmarish that at day’s end he gave away his clubs? What about Nick Faldo’s 75? Jack Nicklaus’ 75? Johnny Miller’s 80? Raymond Floyd’s 18 over par? Sandy Lyle’s walkout with one hole to go?

The flags on the pins should have been lowered to half-staff Friday for some of the world’s greatest golfers in what purports to be the world’s greatest golf tournament, the British Open.

The leaders after two rounds are America’s Gary Hallberg, Australia’s Mike Harwood and England’s Andy Oldcorn, but the contenders still number in the hundreds.

“Looks like a dead heat,” Watson said after an astounding 113 of 156 entrants survived the cut. “Boy, do we have a bunched field.”

Sunshine and England remained only casually acquainted. It was so wet and cold at Royal Birkdale that several golfers played in ski caps, and Seve Ballesteros wore two hats. The first day’s leader, Ballesteros, tapered off to a tie for second place with a chorus line of others--Steve Elkington, David Gilford, Wayne Grady, Mark O’Meara and Mike Reid.

Fifty-three players are within five shots of first place.

Heads covered by floppy stocking caps that made them resemble Dr. Seuss characters, Bob Tway and amateur Phil Mickelson played some of the hottest golf on the course. Tway tied Ballesteros’ day-old course record of 66, eagling one hole from 190 yards out, and Mickelson lopped 10 shots off his forgettable British debut, making some memorable putts.

After his 67, Mickelson promptly charmed every proper Brit within earshot by cheerfully proclaiming that the whole experience had been “very neat.” Thinking himself a goner Thursday, the college student from San Diego is only six shots off the pace.

Still another ground-breaking 66 went to England’s Roger Chapman, who has won one tournament in 10 years as a professional. Chapman shares third place with such famed names of the game as Mark James, Robert Boxall, Howard Clark, Vijay Singh, Barry Lane and Colin Montgomerie, some of whom are not necessarily household words in their own households.

At this tournament, you can’t tell all the players with their scorecards.

Hallberg is an underachiever so desperate to achieve that he says: “I’d fly off to find some guy hiding under a rock in Zimbabwe if somebody told me he had the secret to good golf.”

Harwood is a struggler who has missed the cut here four of five times. And Oldcorn never thought he would play competitively again after a nerve disorder shelved him for months in 1989.

In both obscurity and virtual darkness, Oldcorn, playing in the second-to-last group, birdied three of the last five holes for a 67. He came to the press tent and spoke of his past illnesses while puffing on a cigarette: “I still feel the effects of the illness, but toward the end today my adrenaline kept me going. Just being here playing golf makes me feel good.”

Oldcorn, who plays out of England but has spent most of his life in Scotland, is 199th on the European tour money list.

While relative unknowns such as these were thriving, the knowns were auditioning for a “Golf’s Greatest Goofs” video:

--Trevino was doing beautifully until he hit a five-wood off the tee and into the woods, taking a seven on the par-four 18th hole. It gave him a 73 and left him five shots behind.

“I didn’t even bother to go look for the first ball,” Trevino said. “I would have gotten scratches all over my back and would have had to explain them to my wife.”

--Watson was below par for the tournament until he double-bogeyed 18, where he stranded his drive against a fence and had to take a one-stroke penalty. His 72 put him three shots back.

“I had two choices--to play it or drop it,” Watson said. “I could have hit myself on the left foot, because there was a bush nearby. I knew it was going to be a bad lie when I saw a steward standing there shaking his head and smiling.”

--Calcavecchia’s front nine of 43 would have been wild enough without an eagle . He holed a sand wedge from 110 yards at No. 3, but by the time he reached the turn, he had two whiffs and three unplayable lies and was so fed up that after the round, he and his wife, Sheryl, who caddied for him, gave his bag of Tommy Armour clubs to a Birkdale bunker-raker who happened to mention that his own sticks had been stolen.

“Being nine over nine, I’m pretty damned happy I broke 80,” Calcavecchia said, sarcasm oozing. “I’m pretty excited about my 79, to tell you the truth. Maybe it won’t be high score of the day.”

It wasn’t.

Miller’s was worse, for one, and Craig Corrigan’s 80 included a quadruple bogey. Ronald Gregan will not be invited to the White House after his 87, and Lyle had no score because he lost his ball on the 18th hole and didn’t bother looking for it. Floyd’s 78 left him 18-plus for the tournament and homeward bound.

Faldo and Nicklaus, betrayed by putters, fell back, but Greg Norman gained ground with a 68, and O’Meara made a major move by ending with birdie-eagle-birdie.

British Open Notes

The previous record for Open golfers making the cut was 90, nine years ago. . . . Because all it takes is being within 10 shots of the leader, players eight-over-par survived.

Phil Mickelson made a birdie in the tournament until Friday’s seventh hole, then made up for lost time. He drained birdie putts of 12 feet at No. 7, 12 feet at No. 9, 30 feet at No. 12 and 20 feet at No. 13. Said Mickelson: “Last night, I read Arnold Palmer’s book, ‘The Making of a Legend,’ and it inspired me to play hard and try to make the cut.” Who gave him the book? Mickelson smiled and replied: “Arnie.”

The Leaders

Mike Harwood 68-70--138 Gary Hallberg 68-70--138 Andy Oldcorn 71-67--138 Mike Reid 68-71--139 David Gilford 72-67--139 Seve Ballesteros 66-73--139 Wayne Grady 69-70--139 Steve Elkington 71-68--139 Mark O’Meara 71-68--139

Others included: Fred Couples 72-69--141 Jose Maria Olazabal 74-67--141 Tom Watson 69-72--141 Ian Woosnam 70-72--142 Greg Norman 74-68--142 Lee Trevino 71-72--143 Curtis Strange 70-73--143 Jack Nicklaus 70-75--145