Barnes stormer sets pace in US

Published on Saturday 20 June 2009 22:50

IT WAS, as it has been for all three days, an almighty guddle amidst the mud, glaur and increasingly pungent farmyard-like smells of this seemingly interminable 109th US Open.

But, weather permitting – a big maybe – we're getting there. Largely dodging what was supposed to be a storm of Armageddon-like proportions yesterday afternoon, America's national championship is back on track.

Well, sort of. Despite the lengthy delays that marred the opening two days, the halfway point has been reached and passed, with the bulk of the final 36 holes to come today. The smart money, however, is still on a dreaded Monday finish, if the latest meteorological forecast is anything to go by.

Anyway, to the golf. To the surprise of no-one, the leader board is almost totally dominated by those players fortunate enough to be assigned "late-early" tee-times in the original draw. Spared the ordeal of even a few holes amidst Thursday's downpours, the "second wave" – there's irony for you – of players have played all 36 of their holes in almost perfect conditions. In contrast, the "early-late" crew has spent a large percentage of time on the course huddled under umbrellas. Such are the potential vagaries of tournament golf.

Atop the board are two unlikely candidates in former US Amateur champion Ricky Barnes and Lucas Glover, one of those PGA Tour players who earn almost $2m every year without anyone really noticing. Barnes, after a five-under 65, leads on eight-under-par 132 – which ties the lowest ever halfway total in the US Open – one ahead of his compatriot. Former Masters champion Mike Weir is next on 134 and the best of the British contingent are Lee Westwood – third at Torrey Pines last year – and Ross Fisher. Both Englishmen are on 138, two under the card.

Fisher, for one, was talking a good game after his second round of 68.

"I came here with the belief that I can win the tournament," he pronounced. "I feel ready to win a major. I have won twice and should have won a number of times more. I feel like my game is ready to compete at the highest level."

Speaking of the very pinnacle of the sport, world No.1 Tiger Woods went some way to repairing the damage inflicted by his opening 74 with a 69. Three over par and 11 shots behind would be too much for ordinary mortals to claw back, but, of course, Woods is another kind of being. Certainly, he hasn't given up, despite his battling a baulky putter most of yesterday.

"Unfortunately, my score doesn't really reflect how well I'm playing," he sighed, after a round in which he missed a succession of makeable putts. "The putts I hit well didn't go in. And the putts I hit poorly weren't even close. The greens are so bumpy and so slow. And they're getting slower and slower.

"It's hard to make yourself hit putts hard enough considering this is the US Open. The last time we were here they were really fast. So it is hard to make the necessary adjustments."

Woods will have to match the US Open record for a 36-hole comeback if he is to clinch a 15th major. American Lou Graham set the mark by overhauling an 11-stroke deficit at Medinah in 1975.

Elsewhere in the pack, potential winners in the shape of Phil Mickelson (one under), Geoff Ogilvy (level), Sergio Garcia (level) and Jim Furyk (one over) will all harbour lingering hopes of victory over the next however many days it takes to finish this sodden event.

As for the lone Scot in the field, Martin Laird made a noble effort but just missed the cut. Eight over par after 27 holes and all but on his way home to Scottsdale for the weekend, the 26-year old former Scottish Youths champion nipped home in 32 (on the front nine) for a five-over aggregate of 145 that just missed sneaking into the top-60 players who qualified for the final two rounds.

While chuffed to have finished so well, Laird – who has made only five of 14 cuts on the PGA Tour this year after bravely making an eight-foot putt on the last green of the last event to snatch the 125th and last exempt spot in '08 – was cautiously optimistic as to his chances of playing two more rounds. Which turned out to be just as well. He is, at the moment, something of a work in progress. After a horrific start to the '09 season, Laird has made four of his last five cuts under the tutelage of a new coach, Mark McCann, and learned not to fight his standard left-to-right and higher-than-average ball flight.

"I need a few guys to go up," he shrugged, after making three pars and what could have been a vital closing birdie on the four holes left to him after the weather-related chaos of Friday. "I was six over par and 30 feet from the hole on the sixth green when I started and the target was to get two birdies. I didn't quite manage that, so we'll just have to wait and see what happens."

Sadly, it wasn't to be, as could be the case with another area of doubt in the life of Laird at the moment: whether or not he will participate in the Scottish Open next month, what would be his first European Tour event. Having requested one of the ten available invitations as long ago as January, the Glasgow native is still waiting to hear from tournament organisers apparently in need of a lesson in basic manners.

"I've asked, now all I can do is wait," said Laird, who commendably pre-qualified for both this event and the Open Championship over the past month. "And I'll just have to respect their decision, however it turns out. If I don't get in, I'll play in the John Deere Classic and fly home on the chartered jet they lay on to get players to the Open."

The final decision on Laird's Loch Lomond fate will be made on 26 June by something called the players invitation committee, a body of men made up of Peter Adams, the championship director, Mike Stewart and Keith Waters of the European Tour, Niall Flanagan of the host club and Patrick O'Riordan from sponsors Barclays Bank.

According to Adams, Laird's long-held application is "under consideration", but with as many as seven invitations already allocated (to, it is rumoured, Nick Faldo, Sandy Lyle, John Daly, Greg Norman, Boo Weekley, Stuart Appleby and Daniel Chopra (!)) time and spaces are running out for the ultra-exclusive club on the banks of Scotland's biggest puddle to finally do the right thing.