Alastair Forsyth leading Scot as Open enters third day at Carnoustie

PAUL LAWRIE AND COLIN MONTGOMERIE

MISS CUT (at 9.18pm) AS GARCIA

LEADS BY TWO AT HALFWAY STAGE

Paul Lawrie, the 1999 winner, and Colin Montgomerie, who has never won a Major, failed by one shot to survive the cut at four-over-par 146 in the Open championship at Carnoustie. Mind you, neither did Phil Mickelson but that will be no comfort for Paul and Colin.

Korean-born Australian Lee Won-joon expects to be an unpopular guy after defying the gathering gloom to put Montgomerie, Lawrie, Justin Leonard, Henrik Stenson and six others out of the Open.

Lee was in the final group and had to avoid a double-bogey 6 on the 499yd par-4 18th to make the halfway cut four over par 146, rather than five over 147. The Sydney-based golfer missed the green to the right but chipped on and two-putted.

It was 9.18pm by then and it was only then that Lawrie, winner on the course in 1999, Montgomerie, the course record holder, Leonard, beaten in the play-off eight years ago, and the others discovered their fate.

Acting as Lee's caddie was Englishman Pete Coleman, who for many years worked for Bernhard Langer.

"Peter told me he didn't want me to go to five over because it would bring in a few other guys," Lee joked.

"So we made sure I was going to make 5. I wouldn't go around telling anyone. There will probably be a big mob at the first tee!"

For Montgomerie it was a fifth straight missed cut in major championships since blowing his chance to win last year's US Open at Winged Foot.

"I'm disappointed obviously. I didn't play well but I battled well and played the last five holes in one under par, which is as good as it gets," said the 44-year-old.

"It wasn't easy. I played well on Thursday but didn't putt well."

Asked where he would be with a combination of first-round ball-striking and second-round putting, Montgomerie said: "I would be leading. But I'm not."
Alastair Forsyth (pictured above), Ross Bain and former Open champion Sandy Lyle are the only Scots through to the Saturday and Sunday action. Alastair, on 141, is five strokes behind the leader through the first two rounds, US-based Spaniard Sergio Garcia.

EARLY NERVES

Garcia overcame early nerves to retain his two-stroke lead - with more than a little help from an off-form Tiger Woods.
But now comes the hard part for the 27-year-old Spaniard - 12 times he has finished in the top 10 in majors, but not once yet has he achieved victory.
A chance to follow in the footsteps of his compatriots Seve Ballesteros and Jose Maria Olazabal has arrived again on the same course where eight years ago he had the worst two rounds of his professional career.
From the nightmare of his 30-over-par total at Carnoustie in 1999, when rounds of 89 and 83 left him dead last - the world No. 13 today added a level-par 71 to his sparkling opening 65. A shot-a-hole improvement over the two days.
And with Woods' bid for a third successive Claret Jug hitting trouble from the moment he hooked a "safety" iron out of bounds off the first tee - he eventually came off with a 74 to fall seven behind - Garcia's six-under-par halfway total of 136 was always likely to keep him at the top of the leaderboard in the windy conditions.
South Korean KJ Choi, one place ahead of Garcia on the world rankings after two recent wins on the US Tour, looked for a while as if he might at least draw level with him after birdies at the 14th and 15th brought him one behind.
But he was almost in the Barry Burn with his closing drive and with a bogey 5 had to settle for a second successive 69.
Choi was still second on his own in the clubhouse, one ahead of Garcia's countryman Miguel Angel Jimenez and Canadian Mike Weir, while out on the course in-form Swede Pelle Edberg also stood three under with the feared closing four-hole stretch still to come in the cold of the evening. Edberg succumbed to a 73 for 145.
Sadly for the Irish fans, Paul McGinley, second overnight, hit early trouble and was down to level par with two to play. He finished on 75 for 142, while 18-year-old amateur Rory McIlroy failed to rediscover the magic of an initial 68 that had put him joint third.

SILVER MEDAL FOR RORY
But even with a 76 he was safely inside the halfway cut mark at two over 144 - and guaranteed the Silver Medal as leading amateur after 72 holes, because Rory is the ONLY amateur to get past the cut.

And that was more than world No 2 Phil Mickelson could say. With a double bogey on the last he crashed to a 77 and six over-par 148. He missed the cut by two strokes.

Only 12 men are under par after 36 holes which speaks volumes for Carnoustie as a true Open test of would-be champions. No 1999-style complaints about the rough or the narrowness of the fairways, just a recognition that Carnoustie is a course to sort out the men from the boys.

QUALIFIERS FOR THIRD ROUND
Par 142 (2 x 71)
136 Sergio Garcia (Spa) 65 71
138 K J Choi (Kor) 69 69
139 Mike Weir (Can) 71 68, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 69 70
140 Jim Furyk (US) 70 70, Boo Weekley (USA) 68 72
141 J J Henry (US) 70 71, Retief Goosen (Rsa) 70 71, Andres Romero (Arg) 71 70, Alastair Forsyth 70 71, Angel Cabrera (Arg) 68 73, Lee Westwood 71 70
142 Rodney Pampling (Aus) 70 72, Ernie Els (Rsa) 72 70, Stewart Cink (US) 69 73, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 70 72, Paul McGinley 67 75, Padraig Harrington 69 73, Paul Broadhurst 71 71
143 Steve Stricker (US) 71 72, Nick Watney (US) 72 71, Tiger Woods (US) 69 74, Pat Perez (US) 73 70, Adam Scott (Aus) 73 70, Lucas Glover (US) 71 72, Fredrik Andersson Hed (Swe) 72 71, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 74 69, Vijay Singh (Fij) 72 71, Rich Beem (US) 70 73, Markus Brier (Aut) 68 75
144 Jerry Kelly (US) 74 70, Charley Hoffman (US) 75 69, Arron Oberholser (US) 73 71, Chris DiMarco (US) 74 70, Ross Bain 73 71, Toru Taniguchi (Jpn) 72 72, Peter Hanson (Swe) 70 74, Rory McIlroy (am) 68 76, Mark Calcavecchia (US) 74 70, Niclas Fasth (Swe) 75 69, Ryan Moore (US) 72 72
145 Anders Hansen (Den) 72 73, Nick Dougherty 71 74, Pelle Edberg (Swe) 72 73, Paul Casey 72 73, Justin Rose 75 70, Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 71 74, Thomas Bjorn (Den) 70 75, Richard Green (Aus) 72 73, Scott Verplank (US) 72 73, Jonathan Byrd (US) 73 72, Carl Pettersson (Swe) 70 75
146 Ben Curtis (US) 72 74, Won Joon Lee (Aus) 73 73, Sean O'Hair (US) 71 75, Mark O'Meara (US) 74 72, Shaun Micheel (US) 70 76, Sandy Lyle 73 73, Brian Davis 74 72, Zach Johnson (US) 73 73, Michael Campbell (NZ) 68 78, David Howell 72 74, John Senden (Aus) 72 74, Tom Lehman (US) 73 73, Jon Bevan 73 73, Hunter Mahan (US) 73 73, Kevin Stadler (US) 75 71, Ian Poulter 73 73, Luke Donald 70 76, Mark Foster 76 70.
MISSED THE CUT
147 Tomohiro Kondo (Jpn) 74 73, Colin Montgomerie 73 74, Tom Pernice (USA) 74 73, Matthew Zions (Aus) 72 75, Johan Edfors (Swe) 72 75, Joe Durant (US) 77 70, Justin Leonard (US) 74 73, Paul Lawrie 73 74, Peter Fowler (Aus) 74 73, Henrik Stenson (Swe) 71 76.
148 Benn Barham 75 73, David Toms (US) 71 77, Toshimitsu Izawa (Jpn) 75 73, Darren Clarke 72 76, Terry Pilkadaris (Aus) 74 74, Phil Mickelson (US) 71 77, John Rollins (US) 72 76, Brett Quigley (US) 72 76, Drew Weaver (US) (am) 76 72, Gregory Havret (Fra) 72 76
149 Steve Alker (NZ) 74 75, Adilson Da Silva (Bra) 74 75, Ross Fisher 74 75, Peter Baker 73 76, Geoff Ogilvy (Aus) 75 74, Nick O'Hern (Aus) 71 78, Achi Sato (Jpn) 71 78, David Frost (Rsa) 74 75, Hideto Tanihara (Jpn) 72 77, Charles Howell III (US) 73 76, Chad Campbell (US) 74 75, Loren Roberts (USA) 74 75, Brett Wetterich (US) 75 74, Stuart Appleby (Aus) 74 75
150 Spencer Levin (US) 76 74, Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind) 77 73, Francesco Molinari (Ita) 76 74, Mattias Eliasson (Swe) 74 76, Rory Sabbatini (Rsa) 76 74, Graeme McDowell 77 73, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 75 75, Davis Love III (US) 79 71, Michael Putnam (US) 78 72, Matt Kuchar (US) 74 76, John Daly (US) 74 76, David Higgins 79 71, Bradley Dredge 76 74, Paul Sheehan (Aus) 75 75, Richard Sterne (Rsa) 76 74
151 Aaron Baddeley (Aus) 78 73, Richie Ramsay (am) 76 75, John Bickerton 75 76, Stephen Ames (Can) 81 70
152 Robert Karlsson (Swe) 74 78, Nick Faldo 79 73, Yong-eun Yang (Kor) 74 78, Robert Allenby (Aus) 73 79, Oliver Wilson 80 72, Kevin Harper 77 75.
153 Anthony Wall 77 76, Toshinori Muto (Jpn) 74 79, Dong-Hwan Lee (Jpn) 75 78, David Shacklady 76 77, Todd Hamilton (USA) 81 72, Seung Hoo Lee (Kor) 77 76, Chih-bing Lam (Sin) 76 77, David Coupland 79 74.
154 Jose-Filipe Lima (Por) 75 79, Scott Laycock (Aus) 74 80, Steve Parry 73 81, Paul Waring 74 80, Mark Hensby (Aus) 79 75, Anders Hultman (Swe) 77 77
155 Duffy Waldorf (US) 82 73
156 Desvonde Botes (Rsa) 78 78, Vaughn Taylor (US) 82 74
157 Justin Kehoe 78 79, Doug McGuigan 77 80
158 Llewellyn Matthews (am) 75 83, Ben Bunny (Aus) 81 77, Graeme Storm 78 80
160 David Gleeson (Aus) 83 77, Scott Drummond 79 81, Adam Groom (Aus) 79 81
161 Tony Jacklin 78 83
162 Ewan Porter (Aus) 83 79

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