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| Jesper Parnevik tried many methods to help his allergies, including playing with tissue in his nose. |
"My allergies have never been worse. My hand is hurting. I have terrible hay fever. My nose was just dripping all the time and I was just sneezing all the time," he said after shooting an even-par 71 to stand at 3-over, just two shots off the lead.
"I had to step away from putts to clean my nose because it was dripping on the ball. I had to time my putts and my shots between my sneezes."
He was persuaded to continue by a marshal at the sixth hole who gave him some medicine.
"It didn't help much, but luckily I birdied the seventh and the eighth," he said.
Parnevik has played well in the past when he has been sick, winning the Phoenix Open last year when he was ill with something he had caught from his daughter.
Parnevik was second to Nick Price in the 1994 Open at Turnberry and second again at Royal Troon two years ago when Justin Leonard shot a closing 65 to win.
Rodney who?
From first to finished.
Rodney Pampling's fortunes in the British Open on Friday turned quicker than the gusting winds at Carnoustie.
A surprising first-round leader with an even-par 71, the former Australian greenskeeper made history he'd like to forget with a second-round 15-over 86, making him the first player to lead and then miss the cut in the Open.
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Quote of the day: "To get the grass this dark green over here, God must have come down and put fertilizer in the rough. I've never seen the grass this dark and this lush and this green that far off the edge of the fairway." -- Greg Norman on the severity of the rough at Carnoustie.
Shot of the day: Jean Van de Velde's pitching wedge at the 18th. With wind howling behind him, and most players unable to stop the ball anywhere near the hole, Van de Velde managed to stick his approach within 3 feet for a rare birdie, which gave him the second-round lead by a stroke over Argentina's Angel Cabrera. Shock of the day: For the second day in a row, a little-known player leads the British Open. France's Jean de Velde shot the tournament's best score, a 3-under 68, to lead by one.
Don't forget about: Davis Love III. He shot his second consecutive 74 on Friday, which doesn't sound like much until you notice he's just five shots out of the lead. |
Pampling, credited his wife Angela, a trained psychologist, for his new-found confidence in the first round, when he had 11 pars and an eagle to lead on Thursday.
On Friday in almost identical conditions, he had 10 bogeys, one double bogey and a triple bogey on the disastrous ninth hole. And his wife was the first to console and hug him as he came off the 18th.
"I got off to a slow start and you can't really pick it up out here too much," Pampling said, little known even in Australia, where he lives in the Sunshine Coast town of Caboolture.
"It just kept compounding. A few bad holes, a very bad one on nine and a couple of more holes and you have an 86," he said. "A few bad lies, a few bad shots and you have a big score."
Boosting the game
British Open leader Jean Van de Velde says his success will be a huge boost for golf in France regardless of how he performs over the weekend.
Van de Velde posted the best score of the tournament Friday, a 3-under 68, to take the overnight lead. But with the likes of Tiger Woods, Greg Norman and Brian Watts among those breathing down his neck, the chances of Van de Velde becoming only the second French winner in the history of the tournament are still slim.
But he is not worrying about following Arnaud Massy's 1907 success and says he plans to enjoy his moment in the limelight, however long it lasts.
"I'm going to go out there and do exactly the same, try to enjoy it. I know it's a major championship but it's just a golf tournament," he said. "As a kid you dream of seeing your name on the board, but it's only Friday, I'd like to see it on Sunday. If it's my week then it's my week - we'll see."
Heading home
Despite the cut at being set at 12-over, there was no shortage of big names packing their suitcases Friday night.
Leading the way in the futility pack was Spanish teen sensation Sergio Garcia, whose 83 on Friday added to his Thursday disaster of 89 left him at 30-over 172, the worst score of anyone completing two rounds.
Garcia's playing partner Vijay Singh, ranked fourth in the world, also crashed out at 18-over, while Mark O'Meara made a miserable defense of his title as he limped out at 15-over.
Others going home include five-time British champion Tom Watson, Phil Mickelson, Tom Lehman, Nick Faldo, Jose Maria Olazabal, Steve Stricker, Steve Elkington, Stuart Appleby and Carlos Franco.
Faldo, who finished at 15-over, quietly ended an amazing streak in the British Open. He had never missed a cut in 23 previous appearances.
Divots