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SOUTHPORT, England: KJ Choi is two solid rounds away
from becoming the first Asian to win a major tournament after
knocking Greg Norman off the top of an unlikely British Open leader
board on Friday.
The South Korean birdied his last
two holes to claim the lead with a 3-under-par 67 that left him at 1
under for the tournament, one shot ahead of the 53-year-old
Australian, who putted sublimely to register a second round of 70.
“It feels a bit like stepping
back in time,” admitted Norman, while stressing that he was
keeping his expectations for the rest of the tournament
“realistically low.”
Choi described his round as
“the best I’ve played at the British Open.”
“Everything went the way I
wanted it to. The fans’ support was wonderful and I got great
motivation from that.”
Colombia’s Camilo Villegas, who
surged up the leader board after an extraordinary 65, was 2 shots
off the lead at 1-over par.
Among the group one shot further
back was David Duval, whose presence near the top of the leader
board in the latter stages of his second round was arguably even
more surprising than Norman’s renaissance.
The 2001 champion has made just
one cut in 12 attempts this year as he attempts to rebuild a career
that went into freefall after his victory at Lytham. Even Norman’s
world ranking of 646 looks elevated when set against Duval’s lowly
rank of 1,087.
Also at 2 over was defending
champion Padraig Harrington, whose participation in the tournament
had been in doubt until minutes before he teed off on Thursday
because of an injured wrist.
That saga was reduced to a
distant memory as the Dubliner finished with an eagle and a birdie
on his last two holes to card a 68.
Playing a couple of groups ahead
of Norman, Villegas was making light of the blustery conditions with
8 birdies, 5 of them on the last five holes.
After hitting the pin with his
second shot at the 18th, he holed a 20-footer to complete a
2-4-3-4-3 finish and a remarkable score for someone who started the
day with bogey 5s on his first two holes.
Rocco Mediate, Graeme McDowell
and Robert Allenby, the overnight leaders and the only players to
break par in their opening rounds, all dropped back with 73s but
remain in the title hunt.
Pre-tournament favorite Sergio
Garcia is 5 shots off the pace after a 73 and his prospects of
challe-nging were not encouraged by a couple of missed tiddlers on
the first and 18th greens.
Phil Mickelson bounced back from
his opening 79 with a 68 to beat the cut by 2 strokes.
Ernie Els was made to sweat after
missing a 4-foot par putt on the 18th but finally squeezed into the
final two rounds right on the cut mark after following Thursday’s
80 with a 69.But Mark O’Meara (77), the last man to win a British
Open at Royal Birkdale, was packing his bags, as were former
champions Tom Watson (76), Paul Lawrie (73) and John Daly, whose
second round 89 was the worst round of the week.
Also facing an early flight home
were 2007 US Open champion Angel Cabrera and two-time major winner
Vijay Singh.
--AFP
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