17 July 2004	Saturday	28 Jamadi-ul-Awwal 1425

TROON, July 16: A British Open leader board containing most of the biggest names in golf was topped on Friday by a little-known PGA tour pro whose main claim to fame was that he chopped off his finger preparing a bagel.

Skip Kendall, 39, fired a joint best-of-the-day 66 to set the second-round pace at seven under par (135) and left the likes of Tiger Woods, Ernie Els, Vijay Singh, Phil Mickelson, Retief Goosen and Colin Montgomerie trailing in his wake at Royal Troon.

The man from Windermere, Florida, has never won a US PGA Tour event and has only played the British Open twice, missing the cut in 1998 and finishing tied 59th last year.

His career nearly took the harshest cut of all in 2003 when he chopped off most of the top of his left index finger while cutting a bagel for breakfast. He put the fingertip on ice, rushed to hospital, had it stitched back on and 10 days later was playing again with a new grip.

Kendall may have one finger on the famous old Claret Jug now but will need plenty of nerve and determination to keep it there. His round, highlighted by a 50-foot eagle putt at the long 16th as early windy conditions eased, left him leading by one from overnight joint leader Thomas Levet of France who had a one-under-par 70.

Frenchman Levet, in the form of his life after claiming the Scottish Open title last weekend, has unfinished business at Royal Troon this week. He blew his chance of the 2002 Open with a playoff defeat by Ernie Els at St Andrews when an errant drive on the 18th cost him dear.

One behind Levet lie Briton Barry Lane (68) and Korean KJ Choi (69) on five under par. Golf's top world-ranked trio - Woods, Els and Singh - are not far behind and neither are U.S. Masters champion Mickelson and U.S. Open holder Goosen.

Woods surrendered two bogeys in his opening nine after missing two relatively easy putts - including one from three feet - to wipe out two early birdies. The world number one then strung nine pars together on the more difficult inward half for a level 71 which kept him one under par after 36 holes.

"I'm right there with a chance and that's where I want to be. I love it with the wind blowing like this. None of the guys are going to run away with it," he said. Singh was three shots better off than Woods after a 70.

"I'm playing the best I have for a long, long time," last year's joint-runner-up Singh said. "I'm setting up a lot of birdie chances and if I keep doing that, I'll have a good chance on Sunday."

Els, the pre-tournament favourite and 2002 champion, matched Friday's round of 69 and lies four under with Singh. They were joined in the clubhouse at four under by New Zealander Michael Campbell who had a 71, Colin Montgomerie (69) and American Todd Hamilton who bagged a 67.

Montgomerie, playing on his home Troon course where his father James was once secretary, played near flawless golf but missed a three footer on the last for his third bogey.

One further adrift were Goosen (70), arguably the most in-form golfer in the world, 2003 U.S. Masters winner Mike Weir of Canada (68) and American Kenny Perry (70). Mickelson matched Kendall's 66, meanwhile, to rescue his challenge and lie well positioned on three under par.

The stiff morning winds from the Irish Sea claimed some notable victims, though, including holder Ben Curtis of the U.S. who stumbled to a seven-over aggregate of 149 after a 74 and became the first defending champion since Paul Lawrie in 2000 to miss the halfway cut.

Greg Norman, the 1986 and 1993 winner, fared equally badly after a miserable 76 and three-times champion Nick Faldo also headed out of the tournament with a second-round 77.

John Daly, who won at St Andrews in 1995, departed for home following a 78 for six over but Mark O'Meara (74), who triumphed in 1998, managed to survive. Paul Casey, who had shared the overnight lead with Levet at five under, crashed back to earth with a 77 - 11 strokes worse than Thursday.

SECOND ROUND SCORES:

135 Skip Kendall 69 66

136 Thomas Levet 66 70

137 Barry Lane 69 68, K.J.Choi 68 69

138 Michael Campbell 67 71, Ernie Els 69 69, Todd Hamilton 71 67, Colin Montgomerie 69 69, Vijay Singh 68 70

139 Retief Goosen 69 70, Phil Mickelson 73 66, Kenny Perry 69 70, Scott Verplank 69 70, Mike Weir 71 68

140 Rodney Pampling 72 68

141 Darren Clarke 69 72, Gary Emerson 70 71, Gary Evans 68 73, Davis Love III 72 69, Adam Scott 73 68, Tiger Woods 70 71

142 Rich Beam 69 73, Chris DiMarco 71 71, Brad Faxon 74 68, Alastair Forsyth 68 74, Justin Leonard 70 72, Steve Lowery 69 73, Shaun Micheel 70 72, Marten Olander 68 74, Nick Price 71 71, David Toms 71 71

143 Paul Casey 66 77, Mark Foster 71 72, Takashi Kamiyama 70 73, Sandy Lyle 70 73, Hunter Mahan 74 69, Shigeki Maruyama 71 73, Andrew Oldcorn 73 70, Ian Poulter 71 72, Rory Sabbatini 71 72, Tjaart Van Der Walt 70 73, Lee Westwood 72 71, a-Stuart Wilson 68 75

144 Keiichiro Fukabori 73 71, Mathias Gronberg 70 74, Tetsuji Hiratsuka 70 74, Raphael Jacquelin (France) 72 72

145 Mark Calcavecchia 72 73, Steve Flesch 75 70, Miguel Angel Jimenez 74 71, Jerry Kelly 75 70, James Kingston 73 72, Paul McGinley 69 76, Mark O'Meara 71 74, Carl Peterson 68 77.

PROJECTED CUT:

146 Scott Barr 70 76, Chad Campbell 72 74, Tim Clark 73 73, Luke Donald 75 71, Jim Furyk 73 73, Mathew Goggin 68 78, Jay Haas 70 76, S.K.Ho 72 74, Fredrik Jacobson 75 71

147 Robert Allenby 70 77, a-Lloyd Campbell 73 74, Jonathan Cheetham 72 75, Brendan Jones 71 76, Stephen Leaney 73 74, Peter Lonard 76 71, Grant Muller 73 74, Peter O'Malley 77 70, Craig Parry 76 71, Jean-Francois Remesy 74 73, Chris Riley 72 75, Paul Sheehan 75 72, Sven Struever 74 73

148 Arjun Atwal 74 74, John Daly 70 78, a-Nick Flanagan 72 76, Tim Herron 72 76, John Huston 75 73, Maarten Lafeber 74 74, Phillip Price 75 73, Daniel Sugrue 74 74, Ben Willman 72 76

149 Stephen Ames 74 75, Aaron Baddeley 74 75, Cameron Beckman 75 74, Ben Curtis 75 74, Brian Davis 72 77, Zach Johnson 73 76, Spike McRoy 71 78, Greg Norman 73 76, Miles Tunnicliff 74 75

150 Richard Green 74 76, Anders Hansen 76 74, Matthew Hazelden 79 71, Hidemasa Hoshino 76 74, Jonathan Kaye 74 76, Simon Wakefield 73 77

151 Simon Dyson 75 76, Peter Hedblom 78 73, Tom Lehman 73 78, Craig Perks 74 77

152 Scott Drummond 73 79, Graeme McDowell 79 73, a-Brian McElhinney 76 76, Eduardo Romero 77 75

153 Thomas Bjorn 74 79, Nick Faldo 76 77, David Griffiths 75 78

154 Nicolas Colsaerts 77 77, David Howell 78 76, Frank Lickliter II 77 77

155 Paul Lawrie 78 77

156 Louis Oosthuizen 74 72, Andrew Willey 80 76

157 Adam Le Visconte 77 80, Ian Spencer 79 78

158 Andrew Buckle 76 82

159 Yoshinobu Tsukada 79 80

160 Tom Weiskopf 80 80

163 Neil Evans 85 78

164 Lewis Atkinson 79 85, Anthony Millar 78 86. -Reuters