Muirfield Plan: Easy Does It

After two rounds of the 131st British Open, the non-discriminatory list of contenders includes short hitters, long hitters, youngsters with dreams and veterans who might be closer to AARP membership than their next PGA Tour victory.

This is the open Open, the only major golf championship where you don’t have to be able to drive the ball from Augusta to oblivion to contend. At Muirfield, it’s not how far you hit the ball; it’s how well you place it.

After Friday’s second round, five golfers--Duffy Waldorf, Bob Tway, Ernie Els of South Africa, Padraig Harrington of Ireland and Shigeki Maruyama of Japan--are tied for the lead at six-under-par 136. They did what they had to do on this damp, 7,034-yard layout: carefully keep the ball in play and make some putts.

There are 35 players within four shots of the leaders: Among them are Des Smyth, a 49-year-old Irishman who is only 121st in driving distance on the PGA European Tour; 45-year-old Nick Price, who could barely reach some of the fairways at the U.S. Open in June; Swede Carl Pettersson, a 24-year-old living in North Carolina hoping to someday play on the PGA Tour; and Mark O’Meara, another 45-year-old who doesn’t even hit it as far as Price.

Oh, and Tiger Woods is two off the lead too.

“That’s what the Open Championship is all about,” Els said about the varied collection of players near the top.

“This course is set up for a lot of different players. Guys like Nick Price are going to have a hell of a chance this weekend.”

On a mostly calm day with intermittent light rain, Scotland’s Colin Montgomerie turned in the best score with a bogey-free 64, his 12-foot birdie putt on 18 drawing the first loud, sustained cheer out of the reserved Scots surrounding the 18th green.

He hit his first 11 greens in regulation, eagled the par-five fifth hole and managed to get around this demanding course with 148 bunkers without dropping a shot.

“I want to keep this momentum going,” said Montgomerie, hoping to win his first major tournament. “I know I can win. I’ve never been frightened of winning, ever. I’ve never been frightened of winning here.”

Montgomerie had a dismal 74 on Thursday and thought he might have shot his way out of the tournament. Then he did what any weekend hacker would like to do: He changed clubs.

“I went into the car and I found another set and I thought, oh, bugger, I’ll put them in,” he said. “They worked.”

The 64 was Montgomerie’s lowest score in his 13 British Opens.

Els began the tournament not feeling very good about his chances, but he shot a 66 Friday after a Muirfield-record 29 on the front nine. He began the day at one under, then birdied Nos. 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8 and 9.

Swing coach David Leadbetter has helped him get his mechanics down in the last few days. The mental side of his game has been left to Jos Vanstiphout.

“He keeps on grinding stuff into my head,” the two-time U.S. Open winner said of Vanstiphout. “He keeps me positive. He’s got a pretty decent job to do the next couple of days.”

Three players trail the leaders by one shot: Pettersson, Smyth and Soren Hansen of Denmark.

Two behind at 138 are Montgomerie, Woods, Price, O’Meara, Stephen Ames of Trinidad, Thomas Levet of France, Thomas Bjorn of Denmark and Ian Poulter of England.

For the second day in a row, Woods had little trouble from tee to green but plenty of trouble getting putts to drop. He shot a 68.

“I hit some good putts out there that just didn’t go in,” he said, echoing his sentiments from Thursday.

The group of nine players at three-under 139 includes Retief Goosen of South Africa, who finished second to Woods at the Masters; Darren Clarke of Northern Ireland, two-time U.S. Open champion Lee Janzen, Jeff Maggert and Corey Pavin.

Janzen is 138th in driving distance on the tour; Pavin is 194th.

Sergio Garcia of Spain is among 10 players at 140, four behind the leaders.

Waldorf, the only one of Thursday’s three leaders who held on to his top spot Friday, played late in the day as crowds began to head home.

“The 50, 60 people who were watching would have gone crazy,” he said.

He eagled the ninth hole on the way to a 69.

Maruyama, playing in the same group with Woods and Justin Rose, who followed Thursday’s 68 with a 75, bogeyed the first hole but finished at 68 for his share of the lead.

His disposition on the course was as happy-go-lucky as Woods’ was stern, a contagious smile breaking out on bad shots and good.

“Sometimes I do show my anger,” Maruyama said through an interpreter, “like when I go into the woods and kick some trees or something, but I do it in a way that nobody will notice.

“And I do feel really mad when I miss the putt. However, if I get angry, that really consumes my energy, and that’s the last thing I want to do.”

The secret to his constant smile?

“Nice family,” he said, without the interpreter.

Tway, the 1986 PGA winner, has missed the cut in his last seven British Opens but is thrilled about this year’s course and how he is playing.

“I always thought I should play well over here, and I never do,” said Tway, who shot 66. “I always wonder when we come over what we did wrong in America about designing golf courses....

“At home, all we do is fly [the ball] to a position and fly it to another position. Here you have a lot of options.... They’re more pleasing to play than sometimes what we play.”

There were 39 scores in the 60s Friday, 17 more than Thursday, as greens became a little softer with the drizzle. The cut came at two-over 144, which meant Phil Mickelson barely made it after a 76, but Brad Faxon, Tom Lehman, Vijay Singh, Jim Furyk, Hal Sutton, John Daly and Tom Watson are among those who now have their weekend free.

The forecast calls for increasing wind, a links-golf element that has been missing so far. Most expect the course to stand up just fine, regardless of the weather.

“If we ever get a day where it blows here,” Woods said, “it will be interesting.”

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SECOND-ROUND LEADERS

*--* Ernie Els...70-66--136 -6 Shigeki Maruyama...68-68--136 -6 Padraig Harrington...69-67--136 -6 Duffy Waldorf...67-69--136 -6 Bob Tway...70-66--136 -6 OTHERS Des Smyth...68-69--137 -5 Soren Hansen...68-69--137 -5 Carl Pettersson...67-70--137 -5 Mark O’Meara...69-69--138 -4 Tiger Woods...70-68--138 -4 Ian Poulter...69-69--138 -4 Nick Price...68-70--138 -4 Colin Montgomerie...74-64--138 -4 Stephen Ames...68-70--138 -4 Thomas Levet...72-66--138 -4 Thomas Bjorn...68-70--138 -4 Sergio Garcia...71-69--140 -2 David Toms...67-75--142 E Nick Faldo...73-69--142 E David Duval...72-71--143 +1 Davis Love III...71-72--143 +1 Greg Norman...71-72--143 +1 Phil Mickelson...68-76--144 +2 MISSED THE CUT Jose Maria Olazabal...73-72--145 +3 Vijay Singh...72-75--147 +5 John Daly...74-77--151 +9 Complete scores...D6

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