Diminutive Parry Enjoys a Big Day

Craig Parry hadn’t even made the cut the last four times he played the British Open, but there he was Saturday in the wind at Carnoustie, turning in the low round of the tournament, a four-under-par 67. So go figure.

“It’s got to rank right up there with the best round I’ve ever played,” Parry said.

The 32-year-old Australian is one of the shortest pros at 5 feet 6, but Parry said he felt a lot different Saturday.

“I felt about 6 foot out there the way I was playing,” Parry said.

He started the day tied for 29th and ended it tied for second.

Parry is a four-time winner on the European PGA Tour, but he has never won a PGA Tour event. He played the first two rounds with Tiger Woods and Ian Woosnam and made the cut at nine-over 151.

“Playing with Tiger and Woosie was probably a blessing in disguise,” he said. “They played so well, they probably dragged me to their level.”

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The Headline of the Day award for Saturday goes to the Daily Mail for its story about Sweden’s Jesper Parnevik, who moved into contention Friday despite a bad case of hay fever: “Sneezy does it.”

The story was accompanied by a close-up photo of Parnevik with tissue paper stuffed in his nostrils.

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For what it’s worth, the scantily clad woman who ran onto the 18th green Thursday and kissed Woods is a 20-year-old dancer at a topless club in Aberdeen.

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To say there has been a lot of complaining about Carnoustie is like saying the North Sea is wet.

Many players have been widely quoted on their displeasure with the narrow fairways, tall rough, small landing areas and rock-hard fairways and greens.

Well, the Times of London has had it up to here with all that. From its editorial titled “Tee Time Tantrums”: “Who do these pampered jades of the professional golf circuit think they are?”

Indeed. Besides that, the Times went on to say that the weather here really isn’t that bad . . . considering.

Said the Times: “Only a geographical ignoramus expects the northeast of Scotland in July to be as balmy as the Augusta National in magnolia-time.”

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Payne Stewart made bogey on the last two holes and still finished with a 74. The U.S. Open champion, who shot a 79 in the first round, is 13 over par.

Stewart said the way Carnoustie was set up hardly made the course more playable.

“My attitude hasn’t changed to the Open,” he said. “I am disappointed in the course setup, but my view of the British Open hasn’t changed. I love the tournament and I think it is the foremost golf tournament in the world.

“Will they learn a lesson this week, the R&A;? I don’t know. We’ll have to wait and see how they set up St. Andrews [for 2000]. If they do this to St. Andrews, it’s not going to be any fun at all. I don’t think they care whether players come or not. . . . [Some] players will show up and they’ll give the [claret] jug away.”

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In case you were wondering, Rodney Pampling is the only first-round leader to miss the cut at the British Open.