Love Is the Top Troubleshooter

Halfway through the 132nd British Open, only one player is under par, thanks to this golf course that stomps on optimism, cuts up resolve like a saw and breaks brave hearts into tiny pieces.

Here’s what Davis Love III did Friday at Royal St. George’s, to try to get to the pin on the 12th green, the one that’s stuck four paces from a bunker on the left side of a sloping green.

“I was trying to bounce it over a ridge and through a hollow and up on a shelf,” he said.

If Love also had tried going over a meadow and through the woods, that could have been the way to Grandmother’s house. But as it turned out Friday at Royal Pain St. George’s, it was the right path for Love to follow for a two-shot lead after 36 holes of the third and possibly most difficult major championship of the year.

Love dropped three shots his last seven holes and still wound up with a one-over-par 72, worth a one-under total of 141. If that sounds average, it isn’t. In fact it’s looking better by the minute, because the cut was at eight over.

Thomas Bjorn of Denmark shot a 70 and is two shots behind Love, along with S.K. Ho of South Korea. S.K., or Hursukho, was three under through four holes, but five bogeys and zero birdies the last 14 added up to a 73 and one-over total of 143.

First-round leader Hennie Otto of South Africa shot a 76, but he’s only three shots behind Love at two-over 144 in a group that also includes Kenny Perry, Ben Curtis, Sergio Garcia of Spain, Thomas Levet of France, Marco Ruiz of Paraguay, and Alastair Forsyth of Scotland.

Ho is not well known, although he has two runner-up finishes this year on the Japan PGA Tour. Even defending champion Ernie Els says he knows only one thing about Ho.

“He has a shorter surname than me,” Els said.

Then there is the saga of Tiger Woods, two letters longer than Els and four shots behind Love.

Woods was sailing along at one under par, a shot out of the lead, then he bogeyed the ninth and double-bogeyed the 12th, where he took four putts.

Technically, it went down as only a three-putt green, as Woods’ first one was from the fringe, about 30 feet from the hole. But at the end, Woods had no birdies after the seventh hole and could do no better than a 72.

“I thought I played good enough to score a little lower than I did, but, hey, I will take it because I’m right there in the hunt and I’m only four shots back. And if I play a good solid round [today], I should be all right.”

He would have been a lot better if not for his putting problems at the 12th.

“I played well and hit a lot of good golf shots and made a ton of putts,” Woods said. “But I just had the one hole where I hit more putts than I should have.”

As for the leader, Love received a huge gift when his tee shot at the 14th was steaming well right before hitting a wooden stake marking the out-of-bounds line and bouncing back into play.

Score one lucky bounce for Love, who managed to save par.

“I don’t know how that happened,” he said. “We’re all going to get some crazy bounces in this championship.”

Love made the turn just after he rolled in a 10-footer for birdie to go four under. After that, he just sort of held on.

He bogeyed the 10th when he hit his second shot into a bunker, birdied the par-three 11th when he knocked a five-iron to 12 feet and made it, but he bogeyed the 12th when he three-putted from a difficult position and the 13th when he knocked it into the rough.

At the 17th, Love left a shot in the bunker and made a bogey, but he saved par at the 18th with a nifty pitch shot and then, considering the circumstances, decided to count his blessings.

“I’m going out of here thanking my lucky stars,” he said. “No complaints.”

The sunny and breezy weather in the afternoon was a radical change from the morning when it was cloudy and breezy. The big change was that the greens firmed up and the course played much tougher in the afternoon.

What never changed were the diabolical pin placements.

If Royal St. George’s played any tougher, they would have had the players sign their scorecards, then line up for oxygen.

“They’re very, very difficult,” Love said. “I’ve never seen pins so hard.”

Never, of course, means not very often.

Another typical reaction to the pins came from U.S. Open champion Jim Furyk, who had a day to forget, or at least a back nine to forget. Furyk bogeyed six holes coming in, shot a 78 and missed the cut at 10-over 152.

“I got on a train wreck and couldn’t get off,” he said.

Furyk said the pin placements didn’t help much.

The 15th might have been the toughest -- five paces from the left side of the green guarded by bunkers and on top of a crest, or a bump or a hill, whatever. Furyk bogeyed it.

Woods thought the pin placement at the first hole was pretty nasty too.

“Man, but to start out on the very first hole on a knob, that’s an awfully tough one to start out right there on the knob,” Woods said.

Woods made par at the first hole and also made the cut, which Furyk could not say.

“The course was extremely difficult and the pin placements were in some particularly awkward positions,” said Furyk, who missed the cut along with David Toms, Justin Leonard, David Duval and Bernhard Langer. “They set them up on the sides of humps and on top of humps. They were the toughest pin positions I have ever seen in this tournament.”

They didn’t bother Els very much, as he improved his opening 78 by 10 shots with a 68, the best round of the day. At 146, the defending champion is only five shots behind Love.

“I felt I could have played a little better than that,” said Els, who bogeyed the par-three 11th when he missed the green.

“Always when you walk away from the round, you think you could have done better. I think my patience level is pretty good. But it’s pretty easy to lose it.

“At least I’ve got a chance now, haven’t I? I have to keep the momentum going and keep grinding away and hope for the best.”