Thaindian News

By V Krishnaswamy
Turnberry, Scotland, July 18 (IANS) The Ailsa Course at the Turnberry, which has a way of reeling in dramatic scenes at its 18th green, did so once again. Tom Watson, two months short of his 60th birthday, turned the clock back to take a share of the midway lead on the very stage which saw his finest hour back in 1977.

Interestingly, another legend, Tiger Woods, born in 1975, the year Watson won the first of his five (1975, 1977, 1980, 1982, 1983) British Open titles, missed the cut in a Major for only the second time in his professional career-and third overall.

With only the top 70 and ties making the weekend rounds, Woods, who has won 14 Majors and finished in top-10 in another 17, fell one short at five-over after rounds of 71 and 74. His first missed cut in a Major was at the 1996 Masters, whilst still being an amateur and the only other time he missed out was at the US Open in 2006.

From an Indian viewpoint, Gaganjeet Bhullar, attempting to become only the third Indian to play the weekend rounds of a Major championships, was swept aside by wet and windy conditions on Friday morning, as he went seven-over for the second round and ended at eight-over 148 for the tournament.

Bhullar, the youngest-ever Indian at a Major, also added the honour of recording the lowest round on Major debut with his first round 71, but his 77 in second round meant he failed to join the elite company of Jeev Milkha Singh and Jyoti Randhawa, as the only Indians to have played on the weekend at a Major.

Watson, widely regarded as the greatest Links Golf player, rolled in two birdies from 60 feet in the space of three holes, on the 16th and then the 18th-which quite appropriately was recently re-named “Duel in the Sun” in honour Watson’s win over Jack Nicklaus at the 1977 Open at Turnberry, which many regard as the finest Major ever.

As the crowd toasted Watson, who himself rallied from a mid-round collapse that saw him bogey four in a row from fifth to eighth, Woods was attempting to claw his way back from the brink with back-to-back birdies on the 16th and 17th. He needed yet another on the 18th, but fell short and was ready to make an earlier-than-planned exit from Turnberry on his private jet. Watson shared the lead with an Open Rookie, American Steve Marino. Watson followed his first round 65 with a 70 to be five-under 135 alongside Marino.

Playing in the company of Watson, Matteo Mannassero, the 16-year-old Italian prodigy, also made the cut and was the only amateur to do so at one-over 141.