A Star May Be Bjorn Today

They’re going to ring the bells in the tower at nearby St. Clement’s Church, but don’t ask for whom they’re tolling. It’s way too complicated.

We do know this. The 132nd British Open championship will be decided today on the ancient links here at Royal St. George’s, where chances are a whole bunch of people are going to get their bells rung.

Thomas Bjorn shot a 69 to take the lead Saturday and he’s the only player in the field who’s under par after 54 holes.

Somebody has to win this thing and they’re elbowing one another out of the way to see if it’s going to be their turn. With eight players within three shots of Bjorn’s lead at one-under 212, it’s pretty crowded.

There would have been one more, but Mark Roe shot a 67 and was disqualified along with partner Jesper Parnevik when they mistakenly signed the wrong scorecards -- their own.

So that’s one controversy down and a bunch more to go. Who’s going to take charge? There are a few questions hanging around that need some straight answers.

* Will it be Tiger time again?

Tiger Woods had two eagles in an early four-hole stretch to take the lead, but he had four bogeys on the back side on his way to a 69. Woods is at one over and two shots out of the lead -- and he has never come from behind on the last day to win a major.

* Will Bjorn’s identity be as a major winner?

The 32-year-old Dane is one of the few to come from behind and beat Woods in a tournament (he did it in Dubai), but the bottom line is that Bjorn has never won a major in his 10-year career.

* Can Davis Love III win Major II?

Love, the 36-hole leader, remained steady and on track with a 72 that kept him within one shot of Bjorn, but the 1997 PGA Championship winner is lugging a history lesson that only 13 of the last 33 Open champions have won after leading at the midway point.

* Will Vijay Singh be whistling a merry tune?

He’s tied with Woods at one over and has won two majors, but Singh may need more than a seat belt if he tries to duplicate his 69 from Saturday when he had an eagle-birdie-birdie streak, a bogey-bogey-bogey-bogey streak and then birdied three of the last four holes.

* Sergio, Sergio, Sergio?

There must be a major championship in there, somewhere, sometime, in Sergio Garcia’s game, because the guy’s magic, which is what you are when you hole out from 67 yards in the rough to save par at the 17th and putt as if you’ve already had discussions with the ball about where it’s supposed to be going.

* Is Kenny Perry unconscious?

Perry, a winner of three of his last four starts, almost pulled out. He said he was so unfamiliar with links golf he felt like he was on the moon, complained that his game wasn’t suited for this place and now he’s separated from Bjorn by two shots after a 70.

Perry is tied with Woods, Singh, Garcia and 26-year-old Ben Curtis, a PGA Tour rookie from Kent State who has been in the top 25 once this year.

Woods put himself in the lead when he sank a curling, 30-foot birdie putt at the ninth hole, but first he had to put himself into the mix. He was still three over for the tournament when he reached the par-five fourth, but he knocked a five-iron to 15 feet and made the putt for eagle.

His second eagle was more spectacular, when he holed a bunker shot at the seventh. Suddenly, Woods was at one under and rolling. He said he isn’t fazed by his three-over score on the back nine because that’s the tougher side.

And, just for the record, forget that come-from-behind thing. He’ll take winning a major any way he can get it.

“It’s not one of those things I’m really thinking about,” Woods said. “I’ve won eight a different way, so maybe I can win one this way. It’s still not a bad percentage, though.”

Bjorn was a model of consistency, sticking with his conservative game plan of aiming for the middle of the greens and trying to make pars. He made 15 of them, including the last 11 in a row, so you have to say he was successful.

When Woods bogeyed the 15th after driving into the rough, Bjorn was in the lead. He made his first move early. At the fourth, Bjorn hit driver and five-iron to 25 feet and made the putt for an eagle. He dropped a shot at the sixth, but then birdied the seventh when he two-putted from 30 feet.

Bjorn proved to be equally adept in deflecting attention.

“I don’t think all the expectations are on me tomorrow,” Bjorn said. “Sergio is there with a chance to win his first major and it’s been a long time for him. Tiger is there, we know that he’s on the trail to go on his major streaks again.... Davis is out there looking for another one.”

If he hadn’t dropped his club in the bunker at No. 17 on the first day and made quadruple bogey, Bjorn might have been hugging a five-shot lead.

And for Garcia, if he hadn’t made bogey at the 18th, he would have been even with Love.

Garcia said he would rather talk about his putting.

“I feel very confident on the greens and feel like I can make every putt, and that’s always a good feeling to have,” he said.

Meanwhile, Love managed to hang in there, even though he didn’t have such a good feeling about the way he played. But you can’t discount his eagle at the 14th that drew him back to par for the tournament at the instant his 30-foot putt dropped into the hole.

Love says there are at least four or five players with a chance to win today, so he reasons he should be one of them.

“It’s going to be very tight,” he said “I can appreciate it. It’s what we expected. It’s what you expect in a major and there’s a lot of great players up there with a chance.”

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