Weekley’s game doesn’t go south

In 136 years of British Opens and thousands of utterances from its golfers, it’s likely the esteemed event had never heard anything like the following: “Ain’t got no sweet tea, and ain’t got no fried chicken.”

That calm, wistful assessment of Scottish food came from Boo Weekley, a golfer playing only his second major tournament, a golfer tied for fifth place after two rounds, and a golfer surely unmatched even in the lush British Open lore that includes John Daly.

Weekley, of course, would be the 33-year-old from the Florida Panhandle town of Milton, formerly called Scratch Ankle because of its proliferating briars. As American golf freaks know, he grew up corralling alligators that would appear around the yard after storms. As an adult, he worked in the Monsanto chemical plant as a hydroblaster, being lowered into tanks to spray them with ammonia and such.

That didn’t cause his skin condition, however. “No sir,” he said to a reporter in March. “I got it from a cow.” On his first trip off the North American continent, he’s a veritable reality show, saying things seldom heard on British links.

Asked Friday if he’d smuggled in a few cans of chewing tobacco, he said, “I didn’t smuggle a few. I brought a bunch. I think about 20-something, and my caddie brought like 30-something.”

Asked if he’d watched past British Opens, he said, “No.” Asked if he’d felt curious about the difference between the U.S. and European tours, he said, “No.” Asked if he knew about past champions and great players, he said, “No.”

He said his family comes from Britain -- “south of here, down south on the border down there, I think” -- but of St. Andrews, he said, “I didn’t know it was the home of golf. I thought the home of golf was where I was from.”

A phenomenon with $1,926,906 already earned this year, with a win and a second place, Weekley followed his 68 Thursday with a 72 Friday to join Jim Furyk at two-under-par 140.

He also found some great food: smoked fish.

“They’ve got the guy smoking some right over there, probably some of the best you’ll ever eat,” he said.

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Resuming life on planet Earth, 18-year-old Rory McIlroy followed his opening 68 with a very human 76 on a Friday on which he “was tossing and turning” from 4-6 a.m. But the prodigy from Holywood, Northern Ireland, still booked passage to the weekend, conjuring Justin Rose’s surge to fourth place at age 17 in the 1998 British Open.

He’s the only amateur to make the cut.

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The 63rd major tournament for Colin Montgomerie, 44, hasn’t gone well, defying local sentiment as he’ll remain the best golfer yet to win a major.

With a 73-74, he missed the cut, his fifth straight missed cut in majors and his seventh in the last eight.

Had he combined his strong play of Thursday with his strong putting of Friday, he said, “I’d be leading. But I’m not. Thanks.”

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Phil Mickelson shot 77, had a lousy time trying to whack out of the dunes on No. 2, missed the cut and said, “I thought I was playing better than this.”

That gave him three missed cuts this summer, counting the U.S. Open and the AT&T; National near Washington. “So I better get better,” he said. “I think my next tournament doesn’t have a cut; that will be nice.”