British Open Day 2

I couldn't watch much of this since I was at work today, but I got a pleasant surprise when I got in the car tonight to come home and found out from the PGA Tour network that Tom Watson was tied for the lead at the end of day 2. With him is Steve Marino.

Mark Calcavecchia is right behind them at -4 and a whole host of people are tied at -3 including: Ross Fisher, Retief Goosen, Miguel Angel Jimenez, Kenichi Kuboya and Vijay Singh.

I think the biggest surprise though has to be JB Holmes at -2. You wouldn't think a bomber of the golf ball would be doing so well on a windy links course, but apparently JB is playing some very smart golf this week.

Also at -2 is Lee Westwood. Some European guy being interviewed on the PGA Tour network this evening said that Westwood was Europe's best chance for a winner this week. Well, Ross Fisher and Miguel Angel Jimenez appear to be pretty good hopes as well - nice how that guy just pushed them aside.

At -1 are Martin Kaymer, Angel Cabrera and Sergio Garcia. Rory McIlroy is at +3 and Soren Kjeldsen and Paul Casey are at +4 and just made the cut.

Missing the cut were Ben Curtis who was right up there at the top of the leaderboard yesterday and David Duval.

A special mention of Matteo Manassero, age 16, from Italy. An amateur, he is at +1 and made the cut. He played his first two rounds with Tom Watson. That had to be a thrill of a lifetime for Manassero. In an interview on the PGA Tour network, Watson said he was very impressed with Manassero.

I have a theory about why Watson and Calcavecchia are doing so well and why maybe some of the young guns aren't. I think it all boils down to patience and money. When Watson and Calcavecchia started out, they got paid very little. So, to make a living at golf, they had to be patient because they couldn't earn a lot of money in just a few events. That patience, I believe, carried over into their golf and they learned not to force the issue and to just play. Contrast that to the young guns who are playing today - they can make a very good living very quickly on tour so maybe they are a bit impatient. And maybe they push when they play, trying to make something happen but ending up hitting bad shots instead. I also think some of these guys have a problem with accepting that par is a good score. I wonder how many of them try to shoot a low score and end up shooting themselves out of a tournament when all they needed to do was play smart and cautious golf. Something tells me that Tom Watson wasn't panicking about all those bogeys he had today.