ST. ANDREWS, Scotland -- When Trevor Immelman rolled in a 6-foot birdie putt at the last hole to join Tiger Woods and Vijay Singh at the top of the British Open leaderboard, he knew few fans would be taking much notice.
At this Open, there are too many other stories developing, including Jack Nicklaus’ farewell and how Woods would follow up an opening-round 66.
``To come and play the Open championship at the home of golf that’s spectacular in itself, Immelman said Friday after his best Open round of 68 gave him a 138 total at the midway point.
``It being Mr. Nicklaus’s final Open or maybe even final competitive tournament that’s extremely special and obviously you’ve got a guy in Tiger who’s been chasing Jack’s records. So there’s so many different scenarios going on here.
``Just looking further down the field, I had Tony Jacklin playing behind me. So there’s a lot of unbelievable stories unfolding this week. It’s a very special tournament.’'
Maybe that’s an ideal situation for Immelman, who tied for fifth at the Masters but has stayed out of golf’s spotlight with just three tournament victories, all on the European Tour.
``In most groups I’m pretty much the anonymous person. I have been hanging around the top 50 in the world, but I’m not going to be a star in many groups that they put together - but I enjoy it,’' said Immelman, whose playing partners were Phil Mickelson and Englishman Ian Poulter.
Mickelson posted a 67 for a 3-under total of 141 and Ryder Cup player Poulter’s even par 72 gave him 142.
Unable to get close enough to the flags playing into the breeze, Immelman three-putted from a long way out to drop shots at the second and fourth holes. He also bogeyed the par-4 13th. But he responded immediately to two of those bogeys with birdies at 3 and 14 and picked up shots at 9, 12 and 18.
``I think that, even though I had a few three putts today, they were kind of from the 50-foot range which is always a 50-50 chance,’' he said. ``I’d say I’ve putted really well over the last two days.
``That’s probably the difference between what I haven’t been doing earlier in the season.’'
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