Watson conquers Turnberry

TURNBERRY, Scotland – Tom Watson will lead the British Open into the weekend while Tiger Woods will be heading home after missing the cut on Friday.

The 59-year-old Watson rolled in two impossibly long putts, danced a Scottish jig on the 18th green and walked off tied with unheralded American Steve Marino for the 36-hole lead at Turnberry, which struck back with a fury thanks to a stiff breeze whipping off the Firth of Clyde.

Watson is the oldest player ever to lead a major.

Woods won’t be around to see how it all turns out. He took two double bogeys on the back side, limped off with a 4-over 74 and missed the cut in a major for only the second time in his professional career.

“It was just problem after problem,” said Woods, who came into golf’s oldest championship as an overwhelming favorite after winning three times since his return from knee surgery. “I kept compounding my problems out there.”

Major title No. 15 will have to wait.

“I hit some bad tee shots, a couple of bad iron shots, didn’t get it up and down,” Woods said. “I kept making mistake after mistake.”

Watson, trying to shatter the record for the oldest major winner, hit all his bad shots at the start. The five-time Open champion bogeyed five out of six holes on the front – four of them in a row – but remarkably played the final 10 holes in 4 under.

He signed for a 70 that might have been more impressive than his bogey-free 65 in the opening round.

“I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t think I could win,” Watson said.

Woods had missed only one cut in a major since turning pro, and that was at the 2006 US Open shortly after the death of his father, Earl. He tried to rally, making birdies on two of the last three holes, but wound up one stroke shy of the cut line.

“Unfortunately, it just didn’t happen,” Woods said. “No doubt I’m frustrated. I was playing well the first seven holes, right there in the championship. I felt like if I was under par for the tournament, I would be in the top 10. I didn’t do that. I went the other way.”

The top 70, plus ties, make it to the final two rounds. The British Open doesn’t have a 10-shot rule, which would allow anyone within that margin of the lead to make the cut.

Woods was 10 behind co-leaders Marino and Watson.   (AP)