KEY POINTS:
If Boo Weekley didn't exist, you couldn't make him up. The maverick from rural America, equal fifth in the British Open after two rounds, grew up roping alligators to clear them from a flooded veranda, had his life saved as a boy when his father shot dead a rattlesnake and was once punched by an orang-utan at a county fair.
He chews tobacco and spits it out round the course. He has 20 tins of the stuff - just to get him through the Open.
He is also allergic to trousers. He cannot comfortably wear full-blend cotton because of a skin condition he picked up from one of his granddad's cows, so plays in waterproof trousers.
Weekley, 33, carded a 72 to add to Thursday's 68 to maintain his place among the leaderboard pack on two under par overall. He is a hot favourite, if not for the title then certainly to be the character of this Open.
Largely unknown until shooting to No 41 in the rankings this year - with winnings of almost US$2m - he has a southern drawl from central casting and oozes backwoods, down-home charm. He hails from the Florida Panhandle, "the Redneck Riviera", and is quite unabashed that he had never travelled outside North America before this tournament.
He knows little about Scotland or golf's traditions. Asked to outline the main differences he has spotted between the US and Britain, he replied: "Y'all sure have a lot of sheep. We got cows and horses." Was he going to play at St Andrews, the home of golf, while he was over here? "Ah din't know it wiz the home o' golf," he said. "Ah thorwat that's where ah wiz from."
Weekley, a graduate of Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College, grew up hunting and fishing, and worked in a Pensacola chemical plant before deciding to concentrate seriously on golf five years ago. It goes without saying he is not your conventional tour pro, and the idea of using psychologists or other new-age bunkum is anathema.
"Ain't nothing that can't be cured by a good rest," he told one interviewer recently, while also outlining his plans for Scotland: looking up his ancestors, and avoiding black pudding. "I've been told not to go near anything that looks like a sausage. I ain't eating no fried blood."
Nor could he share any memories of previous Opens he watched on television. "I've never seen one," he said. "I'm gonna tell you right now, I don't keep up with golf. I just don't. When I get through playing I go home and do something else. I don't care nothing about the stats, I don't care who won what."
While Boo was spittin' baccy, Sergio Garcia played the grinder's role to perfection to strengthen his grip on the Open. Later in the day, a stiff Scottish breeze blew Tiger Woods' title hopes off-course in the second round.
However, with bad weather reportedly on the way, the worst side of Carnoustie's character has yet to be revealed and may lead to some shattering scorelines and big swings on the leaderboard.
Overnight leader Garcia curbed his natural exuberance to plot his way to a careful level-par 71 for a six-under tally of 136, but Woods never recovered from the shock of driving his opening tee-shot into the water as he slumped to a 74 for 143.
Garcia held a two-stroke lead over South Korean KJ Choi (69), bidding to become the first Asian to win a major. Sharing third place on 139 were 2003 US Masters champion Mike Weir (68) and Spain's Miguel Angel Jimenez (70).
One shot further back were Americans Jim Furyk and Weekley.
- INDEPENDENT
