Posted on 07/19/2002 5:01:52 AM PDT by dtel
GULLANE, Scotland - It's not a British Open without some rain and wind to make things interesting. It's usually not a major championship unless Tiger Woods is in contention.
The rain returned Friday to Muirfield, soaking the course and making things more difficult for the early players.
David Toms found that out quickly, making a double bogey on the first hole to drop off a share of the lead on a links course made more colorful by the thousands of umbrellas fans carried along the fairways.
So did Phil Mickelson, who took two shots to get out of the wet, knee-deep rough on the first hole and also made double bogey to fall back to 1 under.
Nick Price seemed to be the only one enjoying the weather, making birdies on the first two holes to get to 5 under and take sole possession of the early second-round lead.
Woods was able to sleep in and hope the rain cleared because he had an afternoon tee time to resume his chase for an unprecedented Grand Slam of major tournament wins.
With Woods struggling on the greens on Thursday, and a calm Muirfield left without one of its main defenses, an odd collection of players surged past him and crowded the top of the leaderboard after the first round of the Open.
Among them was a guy who wears funny hats, a 21-year-old Brit, a European Tour player from Sweden who lives in North Carolina and two veterans almost ready for the senior tour.
Whether they can remain in contention hinges largely on Woods' putter - and the blustery conditions that will make the second round more of an adventure. It's then that Woods hopes to separate himself and keep alive his bid for a third straight major championship.
"I got myself where I needed to be, especially if the weather is the way it's supposed to be the next two days," Woods said.
Woods managed to get it under par in his opening round, which is significant only because he has gone on to win the tournament the last seven times he opened a major championship with an under-par round.
The 1-under-par 70 left him tied for 23rd and three shots off the lead shared by Carl Pettersson, Duffy Waldorf and Toms. Between the leaders and Woods were 19 other players - including Mickelson - bunched in at 68 and 69.
In all, nearly a fourth of the field broke par. Those who didn't either spent too much time in the knee-high heather or struggled like Woods on greens not as fast as in the year's two previous major championships.
"It was definitely there for the taking," said Brad Faxon, who joined Woods at 70.
Doing some of the taking was Toms, one of only three players in front of Woods who can boast of already having won a major championship.
Toms won his at last year's PGA Championship much the way he played Thursday - making many putts and few mistakes.
"The golf course was pretty benign and it was there for scoring," Toms said. "But I think the biggest thing was I putted well."
That was one thing Woods didn't do. He needed 33 putts for the day, lipping out a handful of birdie efforts and 3-putting for a bogey.
If he was frustrated over his putting, he wouldn't say. What did irritate him was a photographer who clicked his camera as Woods stood over the ball on the first tee and forced him to back off.
Woods promptly hit it 20 yards right of the fairway into the knee-high heather, where he encountered the photographers again and berated them for making noise.
Woods was muttering to himself later as he kept missing putts. Not only was he not leading in his bid for the third leg of the Grand Slam, he couldn't even beat playing partners Justin Rose and Shigeki Maruyama.
The 21-year-old Rose, who made a splash at the Open as a 17-year-old amateur, didn't allow himself to be intimidated by Woods, though he admitted it wasn't your usual threesome.
Rose and Maruyama shot 68s, and Rose had the lead by himself at the turn after an eagle on the ninth hole put him at 4 under.
"There's definitely an aura about him," Rose said. "I think the first time you play with him it is a bit of an eye opener but I didn't get caught up in watching him or all that stuff that goes on around him."
On a day so unusually warm by Scottish standards that fans enjoyed sunning themselves and crowded the beer gardens, players could forget about guessing on crosswinds and club selection.
There was no wind, so it was a matter of just trying to keep the ball out of the deep heather that lines the narrow fairways and the deep and strategically placed bunkers that litter the course.
"When the wind blows, we're going to see some horrendous scores out there because this golf course is very difficult right now," said Price, among a group of a dozen players at 68.
Price found some relief, though, in the fact the 7,034-yard course wasn't lengthened like Bethpage Black was in the U.S. Open. That plays into the hands of Woods and a few other long hitters, he said, reducing the chances of anyone else to win.
Indeed, Woods won by three shots at both a recently lengthened Augusta National and at Bethpage for his first two major titles of the season.
"It kills me the way they are going with the game. When in doubt, add length," Price said. "That does not make a golf course harder. All it does is eradicate 90 percent of the field."
Woods, who pays attention to weather forecasts and already knew a storm was predicted for Friday, welcomed the change in weather.
"I've always enjoyed playing in tougher conditions, because if you play well and shoot a good solid round you're going to move up," Woods said.
My homeboy is in the house.
Did you complain when Nicholas, Snead, Palmer and Hogan dominated the Game. Tiger is as good as it gets right now. He's a phenomenal player. Same as I felt Nicholas was in the sixties and seventies.
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