By BOB HARIG, Times Staff Writer
Published July 15, 2005
ST. ANDREWS, Scotland - It wasn't exactly a duel in the sun. The sky was gray, the temperature cool. And the course was St. Andrews, not Turnberry where Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson battled to one of the great finishes in Open Championship history 28 years ago.
They played again Thursday at the Old Course, but neither would call it much of a battle. While Nicklaus and Watson struggled to shoot 75, England's Luke Donald stole the show with 4-under 68 to trail Tiger Woods by two.
Most of the attention was on the two players who combined for eight Open Championships. Nicklaus, 65, is playing in his final British Open.
"It was a wonderful experience playing with Jack today, although neither of us played very well," Watson said. "It was disappointing from that standpoint. The warmth and love the crowds over here in Scotland gave him was a wonderful example of how much they respect that man. I concur with that."
Nicklaus started strong, hitting a 3-wood and 7-iron to 6 feet for birdie at the first hole. But he added just one birdie and had three three-putts for bogeys that turned his round sour.
"That means I have to shoot a pretty low round (today)," said Nicklaus, who added that the thought of playing in his final major championship had nothing to do with his struggles.
"I'm here to play golf, first," said Nicklaus, who will need to be in the top 70 and ties to make the cut. "And until I don't think that I have much of a chance to do much of anything ... probably, realistically, I should say that right now. But I'm not going to. I'll go out and see if I can shoot a good round. I'd like to walk across the bridge on Sunday, not on Friday. So that's my goal."
Donald, 27, didn't get caught up in the nostalgia.
"It was a lot of fun out there playing with those two greats," Donald said. "The atmosphere was amazing. It was just a lot of fun and it was nice to play some good golf as well for the crowds."
WHO'S HE?: Tino Schuster was probably the most obscure name on the leaderboard. Schuster, 27, is playing in his first Open after surviving a playoff at a qualifier on Sunday. He shot 68 and was two back of Woods.
Schuster is from Stuttgart, Germany, and plays on the Challenge Tour, a proving ground for the European PGA Tour, much like the Nationwide Tour is for the PGA Tour.
"I played some great golf and made some important putts and my 68 is the result of a solid game," he said.
His best finish in five Challenge Tour events this year is a tie for 23rd. .
QUICK START: The first group teed off at 6:30 and featured fast players Mark Calcavecchia, Rory Sabbatini and Simon Dyson. They completed their round by 10:15 local time. Calcavecchia, who won the Open in 1989, said the early holes were like a quiet, leisurely round.
"That was pretty early to spectate," said Calcavecchia, who shot 70. "If I was spectating I don't think I'd be out there that early. I don't think you can even get a beer that early, can you? You certainly can't spectate without a beer."
AROUND ST. ANDREWS: Dade City's Tim Petrovic, who won at New Orleans this year, had just one birdie in a round of 77. Petrovic played in the 2002 Open at Muirfield and missed the cut. ... The 5-pound note with Nicklaus' likeness on it that went into circulation in Scotland on Thursday found its way onto eBay, where bids were as high as 26 pounds ($43).
