59 years old Tom Watson leader after 36 holes !! Tiger is out !!

More wind today and the course is growing some teeth,it showed on the faces of the players who were struggling to keep the ball on the fairways and greens.

Tiger Woods suffered more than most as he is not used to fight to stay in the field for the week-end.After a birdie at 7 which put him at even par he dropped 7shots on the next 6 holes with double bogeys at 10 and 13,bogeys at 8, 9 and 12.With a projected cut at +4 he would have to found some of his magic and he almost did it.Birdies at 16 and 17 brought him back to +5 but his chip at the 18th stopped 3 feet short of the cup,ending his run for a 15th Major title.It is only the second time that Tiger has missed the cut in a major tournament,the other one was in 2006 at the U.S. Open shortly after the death of his father.

Steve Marino shot a 2 under par 68,one of the best rounds of the day,to post 5 under aggregate very early as he teed off in the 4th group on this Friday morning. Tom Watson hadn’t begun to play and leader M.A. Jimenez quickly dropped a shot so the three men were briefly tied for the lead.

Watson birdied the 1st hole but then bogeyed the 2nd,4th ,5th ,6th and 7th to drop to -1.It looked like it was over for the 5 times Open champion who then steadied the ship with a par at 8 and a birdie at 9.He went on to shoot 3 under par on the back nine,drilling two monster putts at 16 and 18 to the delight of the crowd and finishing with a par round of 70 at -5 tied for the lead with Steve Marino.

It was great to see the oldest player in the Championship chat along with the youngest one,16 years old amateur from Italy Matteo Manassero who also shot 70 and stands at +1,six shots behind Watson.

Mark Calcaveccia handled the windy conditions pretty well with a 69 following yesterday’s 67,he is 1 shot behind at -4.

At -3 a group of very good players are tied in 4th place:Ross Fisher 68 today,Retief Goosen 70,Miguel Angel Jimenez 73,Kenichi Kubaya 72 and Vijay Singh 70. J.B. Holmes and Lee Westwood shot 70 to stay at -2 tied with James Kingston,Stewart Cink and Mathew Goggin. Masters champion Angel Cabrera,Jim Furyk,Camillo Villegas,Sergio Garcia,Jeff Overton,Boo Weekley,Branden Grace and Martin Kaymer at -1 close the Group of players still under par,very far from the 50 on Thursday.

Past champions John Daly and Justin Leonard are level par, 5 shots behind.

Defending champion Padraig Harrington shot 74 ,he will start the week-and at +3.

I dont’ know if Watson is fit enough at his age to endure two more rounds at Turnberry,Steve Marino is playing in his first Open Championship and Mark Calcaveccia hasn’t been in this position for quite a while so,if they don’t hold up ,who will come to the top during the week-end ?

There is a lot of golf left and only 9 shots separate the leaders from the bottom of leaderboard,but I don’t think anyone can come back to win from that far behind on a links course.However the players as far as 6 behind the lead have a very good chance if they produce a round of 72 or better on Saturday providing the conditions stay a little bit difficult.

The race is on. Without the Tiger Woods’ intimidation factor on the remaining players many will think they have a chance to win and it usually brings the best out of them.It will be interesting to see who will emerge as Champion of The Open on Sunday afternoon.

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