Monty Is Open, Honest Leader

By RANDY HARVEY

July 21, 2001 12 AM PT

TIMES ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR

LYTHAM ST. ANNES, England —

Colin Montgomerie says that he, like most who follow golf, looks first for Tiger Woods’ name on the leaderboard in a major tournament. The Scotsman didn’t have to look far below his own name Friday after the second round of the British Open at Royal Lytham & St. Annes Golf Club. Woods is four shots back, tied for ninth place.

Between them, though, were names hardly anyone would look for on the leaderboard of a tournament, major or otherwise. Not that Montgomerie, who shot one-under-par 70 Friday for a four-under total of 135 and a one-shot cushion, is accustomed to contending in the British Open. In 11 tries, he has one top-10 finish, a tie for eighth in 1994, and has missed the cut five times.

Nevertheless, he has impeccable credentials as the European PGA Tour’s leading money winner for seven consecutive years between 1993 and ’99. Twice he lost in playoffs at major tournaments, the 1994 U.S. Open and the ’95 PGA Championship.

But Pierre Fulke? Joe Ogilvie? Greg Owen? Alexander Cejka? Niclas Fasth?

Fulke shot four-under 67 and is in second place at 136. Ogilvie and Owen shot 68 and are tied for third at 137 with Jesper Parnevik. Him we know. He is strange, but not a stranger. He also shot 68. Cejka and Fasth each shot 69 and are tied at 138 with Eduardo Romero, who shot 68.

No wonder bettors are confused.

When a friend of Ogilvie’s checked with an English tout shop last Sunday, odds against him to win were 500-1. If anything, he was overrated. Ogilvie is a third-year PGA Tour player who has missed 11 cuts this year and needed a 20-foot putt on the final hole of the Western Open to earn the final U.S. automatic exemption into the British Open. But when the friend called back to bet Tuesday, Ogilvie’s chances had mysteriously improved to 150-1.

It turns out that some bettors had confused him with Geoff Ogilvy, an Australian who has three top-three finishes this season in the United States and Europe, and could be expected to fare better here than Ogilvie.

Ogilvy, however, missed the cut. He was in good company, alongside others who won’t be playing this weekend such as Justin Leonard, Nick Faldo, Tom Lehman, John Daly, Jeff Maggert, Scott Hoch, Fred Couples, Mark Brooks and Thomas Bjorn. Some sentimental crowd favorites such as Seve Ballesteros, Gary Player, Tom Watson and Tony Jacklin also missed.

Bjorn, from Denmark, and Darren Clarke, from Northern Ireland, were players from this side of the Atlantic given the best chance by pundits to prevent Woods from running away with the tournament, as he did last year at St. Andrews.

Clarke, who upset Woods in the final of last year’s Andersen Consulting Match Play Championship at La Costa, has held his own, equaling Woods, Mark O’Meara, Brad Faxon and others at three-under 139. But Bjorn, who had top-five finishes in his last three European PGA tournaments, came here with the flu and shot 76-75.

Meantime, according to Ladbrokes, the British betting agency, Montgomerie has become the co-favorite at 9-4--along with Woods--to win, despite a round Friday that didn’t approach the brilliance of his 65 Thursday. Whereas he capped the first round with a 40-foot birdie putt, he missed one from five feet on No. 18 Friday and settled for par. That was the story of his day, missed opportunities.

“I would have taken 70 at the start of the day, and that’s what I got,” he said.

“It’s not easy playing from the front like that, and having to always look over one’s shoulder is never an easy task, especially at the Open, and having been in this position before in an Open--obviously, I have led at U.S. Opens and stuff but not my own Open as such--and it is difficult watching everybody’s performance and watching the [leader]boards and trying to concentrate on what you do yourself, and it’s tiring.”

Whew! It’s tiring just listening to him. There still are 36 holes to play, and he’s already hyperventilating.

Told that most leaders won’t acknowledge that they look over their shoulders, Montgomerie said, “Well, if they don’t admit it, they’re lying.”

He is a consistently straight driver who hits the ball low, which means he should play well on tight, windy links courses. Parnevik said Friday he is stunned that Montgomerie hasn’t played better in the British Open.

He asked Montgomerie’s caddie about that this week.

What did the caddie say?

“He doesn’t like the tournament,” Parnevik said.

Parnevik does. He has three top-four finishes in the tournament, among them a second and a tie for second, and is again a serious contender. More discussed than his game Friday, though, were his salmon-colored bell-bottom pants.

Why shouldn’t he wear pink? It was a rare summery day, with the sun shining for at least half of it and a relatively gentle--though unpredictable--breeze instead of a gale coming off the Irish Sea. Still, the course, feared to be too short for today’s heavy hitters, is defending itself nicely with its 196 bunkers, high rough and challenging pin placements.

If any player were going to dominate Royal Lytham, it would be Woods. He hasn’t come close yet, although his 68 Friday was accompanied by considerably less angst than his 71 the day before.

“This golf course is not playing easy,” said Woods, who had four birdies and a bogey. “Birdies are not easy to come by . . . especially with these pin locations where they are. A lot of the putts go two different ways. The wind was completely out of a different direction today. We had to readjust on all of our yardage off tees and hit different clubs. To be at three under par, I feel pretty good about that.”

Only Des Smyth scored particularly well, shooting 65 for a 139 total. Des Smyth? He’s a 48-year-old Irishman who had played in 20 British Opens before this year’s and missed the cut in 14 and was disqualified in another.

But it’s no more of a surprise to find his name on the leaderboard than that of Owen, an Englishman who couldn’t escape from a driving-range pro shop until earning his European PGA Tour card in 1998. Or Cejka, who defected when he was 9 with his father from the former Czechoslovakia and lived in Yugoslavia, Italy and Switzerland before returning to Prague to marry a television news anchorwoman. Or Ogilvie. The odds against him have fallen to 40-1.

Or Fulke?

Asked Friday if he is looking over his shoulder at the former handball player from Sweden, Montgomerie said, “Fulke could be my Ryder Cup partner, so I’ve got to be careful.”

As long as he was being honest, he said the players who most concern him are Parnevik and Woods, especially Woods.

“We all have an eye on him,” Montgomerie said. “He’s the best player in the world by some margin. I’m happy he’s behind me. I will be happier on Sunday if he’s behind me.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

LEADERS

Colin Montgomerie: 65-70--135 -7

Pierre Fulke: 69-67--136 -6

Jesper Parnevik: 69-68--137 -5

Greg Owen: 69-68--137 -5

Joe Ogilvie: 69-68--137 -5

OTHERS

Brad Faxon: 68-71--139 -3

Mark O’Meara: 70-69--139 -3

Tiger Woods: 71-68--139 -3

Phil Mickelson: 70-72--142 E