OpenTop TenPhilip Reid Sandwich

Only a fool would believe that this 132nd British Open has a preordained champion. As Padraig Harrington, one of those battling to put any logic on it all, put it, "it's a very open Open, isn't it?"

Indeed it is, as a cocktail of conditions - the wind, the bumpy fairways, and the firm greens with extremely difficult pin placements - at Royal St George's have contrived to produce a midway stage where only one player, Davis Love III, is under par. And, yet, there remains the intriguing prospect that the game of pursuit can be played by one and all.

In truth, none of the 75 players who survived the 36-holes cut, which came at eight-over-par 150, is out of this championship. While Love assumed the midway lead - shooting a second-round 72 for one-under-par 141 - he has not exactly gripped it by its throat, and the quest for the title remains a viable option for virtually everyone going into a weekend of uncertainty.

You won't find anybody throwing in the towel, or conceding defeat, just yet.

"This tournament is going to be so difficult to win," admitted Love, who finished a dry, sunny and breezy day with a two-shot lead over Denmark's Thomas Bjorn and qualifier SK Ho of Korea. "It's not going to be just a golf shot or a putting contest. It's going to be a big mental test where you don't pay attention to the leaderboards, or to your playing partners, or to their good bounces or your bad bounces. You've just got to play each shot and grind it out, to persevere."

Yesterday was a day to torment the minds of players.

Although the wind was not as strong as on Thursday, the course dried out appreciably - accentuating its quirkiness, with bounces becoming weirder as the day progressed - while pins were positioned in impossibly tight areas and on improbable humps.

"The first hole was on a knob. It kind of woke me up to say this was what it would be like all day, and it was," said Tiger Woods.

Ernie Els, the defending champion, who started the day merely trying to ensure he would survive into the weekend, proved to be best-equipped of all to deal with the test. Els shot a day's best round of 68 to move to four over for the championship and Vijay Singh also shot a sub-par round, a 70, to move to three over.

But US Open champion Jim Furyk was the biggest casualty as he missed the cut, while US Masters champion Mike Weir and US PGA champion Rich Beem only made it on the cut line. Woods, meanwhile, added a 72 to his opening 73 to be on 145 and just four shots adrift of Love.

It could have been even better for Woods, but he incurred a double-bogey six on the 12th, where he three-putted from inside three feet. It was washed from his memory by the time he finished. "Hey, I'll take this. I am right there in the hunt . . . but this course is very testing. You have to hit good shots and, on top of that, you have to get good bounces," said Woods.

All four Irishmen competing survived the cut, with Gary Murphy - despite dropping four shots in his last six holes - leading the challenge on five-over-par 147 in tied-28th. Harrington added a 73 to his opening 75 to be a shot farther back, while Darren Clarke and Paul McGinley survived exactly on the cut line.

"You never know," said Harrington. "Anybody who has made the cut is right in there. I'm not playing brilliant, I'm playing average, and I need things to go right. When you're not on form you have got to make the most of everything and I haven't. When you're playing average you need to maximise everything, you've got to be on song mentally and scoring wise.

"You need to get back to somewhere around level par but two 68s is not beyond anyone who has made the cut.

"There is always hope, though, and there is hope. I feel I should be out of this and I am not."

Indeed, the belief that there is a long way to go in this championship, and there is, was endorsed by Clarke. "Anything is liable to happen. If anyone can get it to level par (for the championship), they're not going to be too far away," said Clarke.

Of his own game, he claimed he needed "to be hitting ball better to give myself any realistic chance. I need to get some breaks, but then, everyone needs breaks this week."

The player to get the best break of all yesterday was the one who finished as midway leader. On the 14th, a par five known as Suez Canal that has proven to be the hardest hole on a difficult course, Love's tee shot hit an out-of-bounds stake and rebounded into play. "It saved me a shot or two," admitted Love, who actually got to four under par for the championship until leaking some shots coming home with bogeys on three of the last seven holes.

Going into the final two rounds the demands on a player's mental capabilities, as much as on his physical attributes, increase. "I think we know that Tiger Woods has proved in the past six or eight years that he is the toughest mentally. But you've got to do it all. You can't go in and whack it around and be strong mentally, you've got to hit good golf shots too. I think this course is going to test the complete package, probably more than any tournament we've seen in quite a while," added Love.

See also: Page 3

141 (- 1)

Davis Love (US) 69 72

143 (+ 1)

Thomas Bjorn (Den) 73 70

SK Ho (S Korea) 70 73

144 (+ 2)

Ben Curtis (US) 72 72

Alastair Forsyth (Brit) 74 70

Sergio Garcia (Spa) 73 71

Thomas Levet (Fra) 71 73

Hennie Otto (SA) 68 76

Kenny Perry (US) 74 70

Marco Ruiz (Par) 73 71