British Open Championship 2008 Day 2

Weather again was a huge factor in the 2008 Open Championship. In the rain and wind and cold, a surprising leaderboard has emerged: Leading the Open Championship is 37-year-old KJ Choi, at -1. He’s followed by 53-year-old Greg Norman at even par. Camillo Villegas is in third.

Then there’s a huge logjam at four over: Rocco Mediate, Graeme McDowell, Jim Furyk, Robert Allenby, Noren Alexander, Padraig Harrington and—of all people—David Duval.

This is shaping up to be one of the most interesting Saturdays of all time. Imagine a Sunday that features David Duval and Greg Norman in one of the final two pairs. It’ll make everybody forget what’s his name with the bum leg.

Sergio missed an 18 inch putt, and then promptly made another of his now-famous excuses. This time, he apparently was concentrating on not stepping on another player’s line. He’ll tell you he’s the unluckiest player in the world. If so, it’s karma for some of the dumb things he’s done, like spitting in a cup.

Defending Champion Padraig Harrington—whose wrist injury made it doubtful he would even compete—managed to finish birdie-par-eagle-birdie and end up in that pile for fourth place. Maybe he’ll win playing with one arm; that would make a nice set of matched bookends with the US Open winner.

John Daly carded a 38-over-par. Stick a fork in him. He’s done as a golfer. I just hope he’s not completely finished as a human being.

Other notables who missed the cut: Vijay Singh, Angel Cabrera, Stewart Cink, Aaron Baddeley, Geoff Ogilvy, and Tom Watson. Mark O’Meara is out in spite of getting an inspiring text message from the guy with the bum leg; he won’t repeat his 1998 triumph.

I thought that the ESPN coverage was terribly confused. They jumped around so much, I found it hard to keep track of who was doing what. I liked it best when they picked a player, and then showed quick highlights of what they had done over the last few holes.

I love watching Greg Norman’s swing. Mike Weir has gone to that stack-and-tilt thing; it looked very strange in the side view shots they used.

Phil Mickelson really gutted it out today, showing real mental toughness. It would have been very easy for him to just mail it in. I wouldn’t say that he’s got a chance to win, but he could get in the top ten.

Here’s hoping for more bad weather on Saturday.