Steve Marino and Tom Watson the unlikely leaders on -5

Tiger Woods (71-74) fails to beat the

cut as bad weather hits Turnberry

Oh, the shame of it! Red-hot favourite Tiger Woods will be absent from the last two rounds of the Open at Turnberry.

Not injured, just not good enough to be among those who have low enough 36-hole totals, i.e. four-over-par 144 or better to qualify for the sharp end of the championship.

Woods lost a ball with yet another wild tee shot, took two double bogeys and was seven over par with five holes left, needing a Houdini-type escape just to return to the first tee on Saturday morning. Strangely subdued, strangely uninspired, Tiger lost his teeth while Turnberry found hers.

At seven over par with three holes to play he looked dead and buried, before birdies at the 16th and 17th holes suddenly suggested that at last Tiger had picked up the scent of the championship. But one more birdie at the final hole was a necessity if he was to be sure of his place in the field after the halfway cut-off.

His second shot to the final hole ran just through the back right edge of the green and his make-or-break pitch pulled up three agonising feet short of the hole.
Woods had previously missed the cut in only one major championship as a professional, the 2006 U.S. Open following the death of his father. He didn't play last year at Royal Birkdale while recovering from knee surgery, but three wins since his return to the US PGA Tour led oddsmakers to make him a 2-1 favorite.
Instead, the leaderboard was topped by little-known American Steve Marino and a very well known compatriot, albeit 60 years old on his next birthday, "Old Tom" Watson.
Marino looked right at home in his first Open appearance, shooting a two-under 68 in windy conditions that made Turnberry the test it was meant to be.

Forty-nine-year-old Mark Calcavecchia - another light of other days you might say - with his wife on the bag, was one shot back after a 67-69 start to the tournament. But most amazing of all: 59-year-old Tom Watson rebounded from a dismal start, rolling in a 75-foot birdie putt, and was tied with Calcavecchia with only the 18th left to play.
``I'm real happy with the way things have gone,'' said Calcavecchia, who won his lone major title 20 years ago, up the road at Royal Troon. ``I'm getting some good bounces, and I'm getting lucky on occasion, which always helps.''
Marino, no better than a journeyman with a very small 'j' on the US Tour, claimed the lead all to himself at 5-under 135, safely in the clubhouse while most everyone else surrendered ground to the breezes whipping off the Firth of Clyde.
All eyes were on Woods, who opened with a disappointing 71 in much better conditions on Thursday. He trudged through the front nine, obviously not enjoying the experience one little bit - but as he said recently he does not play golf for un - showing no signs of making a move, then began to fall apart after the turn.
Woods' tee shot at No. 10 sailed wildly into the tall grass far right of the fairway - a familiar problem both days - and it was clear he was in trouble when he struck a provisional tee shot. Even with dozens of fans helping him look, Woods could only find someone else's ball, took a penalty for a lost ball and wound up with a double-bogey 6.
Then, from the first cut of rough only 159 yards away, Woods shockingly wound up with another double-bogey 6. A ragged approach missed the green, a sloppy chip failed to stay on, and a missed putt from about 5 feet sent him tumbling into an even deeper hole.
Watson followed a bogey-free 65 with bogeys on five of the first seven holes - including four in a row. Just when it seemed he was fading away, the five-time Open champion bounced back with two birdies around the turn. His best shot of all was at No. 16, the 75-footer that dropped right in the middle of the cup.
Watson threw up his arms and pumped his fists while the gallery roared. Can you blame him?
Marino, who struggled for years to earn his PGA Tour card, got in as an alternate though he had to improvise to make it happen.
``I didn't have a passport,'' he said. ``I was playing in the John Deere Classic last week and I had to fly my dad down from Virginia to (my home in) Florida so he could get my passport and FedEx it to me. ... I wasn't even expecting to play in the Open.''
When Shingo Katayama withdrew from the Open last weekend because of an injury, Marino received the spot. The rest as they say, is history. A little bit like the way the cookie crumbled for John Daly a few years back.

First-round leader Miguel Angel Jimenez struggled to a 73 but wasn't too upset about it. The ponytailed, cigar-smoking Spaniard got off to a grisly start - a 4-over 39 on the front - but held it together and joined the pack at 137.
``I'm pleased the way I finished, not very pleased with the way I started,'' Jimenez said. ``You need to put it on the fairways, and I started missing the fairways for a little bit.''
Japan's Kenichi Kuboya had the lead for a while, but lost it - along with his ball - when an errant tee shot at No. 13 led to double bogey.

A 72 kept him in contention among that crowded group at 137, which also included England's Ross Fisher (68) and South Africa's Retief Goosen (70).
John Daly, who won at St. Andrews in 1995, made it to an Open weekend for the first time in four years when a 72 left him at 140.
``It was brutal out there,'' moaned Daly, who might have said the same about his psychedelic green trousers. ``The pin placements were extremely tough. The way the wind was blowing, it was impossible to get at them.
``The course - whether it is calm or blowing - is always dangerous. You are always 5 feet or 5 inches from a disaster.''
Just ask Ben Curtis, like Steve Marino one of the US Tour's lesser mortals until he won the 2003 Open, who missed the cut after an opening 65 had him challenging for the lead. Curtis soared to an 80 in the second round for 145 - the same as Tiger Woods, if that softens the pain.
``I just hit it bad,'' he said. ``I got lucky yesterday with the weather. That helped me keep it in play. Today was different.''
And there's not a dissenting voice to that opinion.