Frenchman Is the Toast of Scotland

By THOMAS BONK

July 17, 1999 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

CARNOUSTIE, Scotland —

What the French know a lot about: wine, cheese, the Eiffel Tower, cooking snails.

What the French don’t know very much about: golf.

Yes, the book on great French golfers is as thick as the one on great Scottish chefs, but after two rounds of the British Open, the leader is a 33-year-old Frenchman named Jean Van De Velde, who shot a three-under-par 68 Friday at Carnoustie, touring the place with a certain bouncy, how do you say, savoir-faire.

Van De Velde’s tour de force amounted to a one-shot lead over Angel Cabrera of Argentina and two shots over Jesper Parnevik of Sweden as the 128th Open Championship headed into the weekend, blown there by another day of blustery winds that once again bruised egos, inflated scores and mangled par.

History tells us that no matter how talented Van De Velde might be, you would have to consider it unlikely that a French player will win the British Open, mainly because the only one to do it was Arnaud Massy in 1907.

Van De Velde, at one-over 143, was asked if he could be the next.

“Why not?” he said.

Well, here are a couple of potential why-nots: Tiger Woods and Greg Norman. Woods continued steadfast on his methodical path toward a second major title with a one-over 72 that leaves him three shots back at 146.

A vision of swoosh and confidence all week, Woods said he has nothing to be ashamed of through 36 holes.

“I’m in very good shape,” he said. “Right now, I’m looking pretty good.”

Norman was looking pretty darned good through 16 holes and was four under for the day, but then he missed the fairway on No. 17, whiffed on a shot from the rough and wound up with a triple-bogey seven.

“I wrote it on my scorecard, I accept it, but I don’t like it,” said Norman, who thought he deserved better because his drive was only three paces from the fairway, but still wound up in deep rough.

Anyway, Norman finished with a 70 and begins today’s third round tied with Woods and Patrick Sjoland of Sweden at four over. Sjoland birdied No. 14 and No. 16 on his way in to finish with a 72.

Woods and Norman will play together, but at this point, everyone is chasing Van De Velde, from Saint-Martin, who is probably the most famous golfer in France. That’s not saying much, Van De Velde admitted.

Asked where golf ranks in importance in his country, Van De Velde said, “I’m not even sure it’s on the list.”

Introduced to golf by his parents during a vacation near Biarritz in southwestern France when he was nearly 7, Van De Velde’s golf heroes were Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson and Seve Ballesteros.

Since joining the European PGA Tour in 1989, he has won once--the 1993 Rome Masters. But there he was Friday afternoon, closing with a flourish by making birdie at two of the toughest holes in golf, No. 16 and No. 18.

Now, all it might take to put golf up there along with cycling, soccer and tennis in France would be winning here Sunday.

Just imagine what would happen back home in France.

“I hope it would make the front pages,” Van De Velde said.

A Woods victory is a front-page guarantee, of course. To that end, he is trying tactics that are a complete departure from his normal major championship trappings.

Neither of Woods’ parents is here to watch him and neither is his girlfriend. Butch Harmon, Woods’ coach, is staying in the village by the golf course, but Woods is rooming by himself across the Firth of Tay in the Old Course Hotel at St. Andrews and traveling to and from the course by helicopter, accompanied only by his agent.

“I’m pretty focused,” Woods said. “I’m trying to do my thing.”

As with Norman, Woods thinks Carnoustie sometimes penalizes good shots, but he said he was resigned to that fact. What seemed to bother him more was how the blustery wind bothered his contact lenses and kicked up his allergies.

Other than that, Carnoustie is all right, Woods said.

“I personally think this golf course is set up so that if it was a calm day, it would be a good test,” he said. “It’s not calm out there right now. Because of that, good shots are ending up in the rough and it’s going to the point where a good shot is borderline now. You’ve got to almost hit a great shot.”

For many, great, good or even fair shots were in short supply. Missing the cut were such big names as Mark O’Meara, Phil Mickelson, Tom Lehman, Nick Faldo, Jose Maria Olazabal, Tom Watson and Steve Elkington.

Watson, who won the 1975 Open Championship the last time it was played here, finished at 13 over after a closing 73 that featured a 32 on the back nine.

Spanish sensation Sergio Garcia shot 89-83 and his 30-over total of 172 was the worst score of the 155 players who finished two rounds.

Meanwhile, David Duval shot a 75 and made the cut by one shot at 12-over 154 despite finishing bogey, bogey, double bogey, bogey. Steve Pate made it at seven over par with an unusual 76 that went this way: par, bogey, bogey, birdie, birdie, quadruple bogey, bogey and 11 consecutive pars.

First-round leader Rodney Pampling of Australia followed his even-par 71 with a 15-over 86 and missed the cut.

Norman is a two-time British Open champion, but he hasn’t played since he missed the cut at the U.S. Open. That didn’t seem to matter much the way he had it going Friday, right until that triple bogey slapped him down.

“It’s nice to hear the cheers again and make some birdies,” Norman said.

“Forgetting the seven, I really did what I wanted to do. I put myself in the position come weekend time, I’m going to be [only] three shots back.”

Cabrera, speaking through an interpreter, said after his 69 that there aren’t any links courses in Argentina, but that doesn’t mean anything at Carnoustie. All he is interested in is playing his game and “seeing” the course.

“I don’t know who is behind me,” Cabrera said.

Well, glad to help. Immediately behind is Parnevik, whose 71 featured three birdies in a four-hole stretch from No. 7 through No. 10, an impressive streak made all the more noteworthy because he was battling severe hay fever. Parnevik stuffed tissue paper up his nose to stop things up.

“I felt terrible,” Parnevik said.

By sundown, Van De Velde was feeling great. He accepted the challenge of carrying golf on his back and presenting it for his country’s approval. Golf is a small game in France, Van De Velde said.

“It’ll change,” he said. “I’ve heard there is always a first time.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

THE BRITISH OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

LEADERS

Jean Van De Velde

75-68--143 +1

Angel Cabrera

75-69--144 +2

Jesper Parnevik

74-71--145 +3

Patrik Sjoland

74-72--146 +4