ness. You have to have somebody that
had been there for the whole round.’
My elation went from here to ‘Oh, man.’
[Cosnotti] walked over to the window,
looking 400 yards to the second hole
and said, ‘You know, Tom, I saw that
go in.’ [He] put his signature on the
scorecard. I still have that plaque with
the No. 4 Dunlop on it.”
He still has game, too, no matter
that he called the shot lucky. “They’re
all lucky when they go in,” Watson
said. “But that’s what I was aiming at.”
Asked how much longer he could
sustain this level of excellence, Wat-
son was clear that, like Jack Nicklaus,
he finds ceremonial golf unpalatable.
“Until this old body says no más. If
I’m out there not able to compete and
shooting 80 or 78 or 76 all the time,
I’m not going to stay around very
much.”
But he was staying around at St.
George’s, and Watson sat just six
strokes behind the leaders. With the
cut at low 70 and ties and the 10-shot
rule eradicated in 1996, there were
71 players separated top-to-bottom
by a mere seven swings. The cut of
three-over 143 tied the lowest in Open
history dating to 1898.
Among those ousted were top English hopefuls Luke Donald and Lee
Westwood, the No. 1 and No. 2 players
in the world, respectively. Their
dismissal marked the first time in the
26-year history of the World Ranking
that the top two players missed the
cut in a major. n
Timeline
By ryan Herrington
5: 28 a.m.
Shirley Moore of Ramsgate, 20 miles north of Sand wich,
reports for duty, one of a dozen volunteers selling the
official Open program around Royal St. George’s. “It was
rougher today than yesterday,” Moore says of her 3: 30
a.m. wake-up call. “At least tomorrow I don’t have to be
here until half past 6.”
throughout the course, the R&A making a point of
honoring the Spaniard with pictures of him in the main
entrance and affixing his silhouette along the grand-
stands surrounding the 18th hole. Joining in the spirit
are six friends from Canterbury, each wearing matching
navy blue sweaters over white collared shirts and dark-
haired wigs to look like Seve. “He is a golf icon. Thought
it was appropriate,” says one of the look-a-likes.
7: 28 a.m.
A spectator pulls out a Dutch flag hoping to get the
attention of Joost Luiten, one of two golfers from The
Netherlands in the field, as he walks from the practice
green to the first tee. Yet when Luiten passes, he is looking in another direction. “Why didn’t you call his name?”
asks somebody standing by. “Too nervous,” says the
man, as he puts the flag away in a backpack.
9: 16 a.m.
Remembrances of the late Seve Ballesteros, a three-time Open champion who died in May, can be found
9: 34 a.m.
Several hundred fans begin following Tom Lewis to see if
the amateur can back up his impressive opening round.
American Robert Wheaton, however, is fine with seeing
just his opening shot, heading instead to the nearby
food court to purchase a bacon baguette for breakfast.
“I’ve been over here a couple times,” he says. “This is my
biggest indulgence.”
10: 54 a.m.
Steve Nichols plays the “I told you so” game with his
brother Oliver. It was Steve who convinced Oliver to
walk across the fairway on the fifth hole to find a place
behind the green on the par- 3 sixth. They’re rewarded
with a front-row spot when Tom Watson’s ball one-hops
into the hole for a hole-in-one.
From the HSBC Skybox overlooking the 18th fairway at Royal St. George’s, Colin Montgomerie
was wearing a gray business suit and commenting on how the vice captains from his Ryder
Cup team—Darren Clarke, Thomas Björn and Sergio Garcia—were doing. “I can’t believe I’m
waking up for the Open championship putting a bloody suit on,” Montgomerie said with a
pained smile. This was the first British Open Monty has missed in 22 years, and he vowed to
be back in the field next year at Royal Lytham. “Without winning it, you’ve got to qualify for
it somehow,” Montgomerie said, noting how blown away he was talking earlier in the week to
three-time Open champion Gary Player, who holds the record with 46 straight appearances.
“I want to be on that first tee” Montgomerie said. “I’m looking for my tee time. I’m waiting for
Ivor Robson to announce my name.”
