Garcia holds steady

CARNOUSTIE, Scotland — Tiger Woods took an iron for safety off the first tee but hit his opening shot dead left into the Barry Burn. He made double-bogey 6, fought his swing the rest of the day and came in with a three-over 74. He is one over for the tournament and seven off the lead halfway through the 136th British Open at Carnoustie.

Phil Mickelson, a perennial also-ran in the British Open, where the wind plays havoc with his high ball flight, fared even worse than usual. This time the culprit was his short game, which produced 65 putts over two days. He finished six over and missed the cut for the second consecutive major.

(Click here to see photos from the second round.)

"I thought I was playing a lot better than this," said Mickelson, who lost in a playoff at the Scottish Open last weekend and failed to make the cut at the U.S. Open last month.

Americans have won 10 of the last 12 British Opens, including the last four, painting this usually multinational event red, white and blue. But among the Americans, only Jim Furyk and Boo Weekley, at two under, and J.J. Henry, at one under, were in the top 10 after a breezy but relatively benign Friday. The rest of the leaderboard spanned the globe. Spain's Sergio Garcia led the field at six under but was followed closely at four under by South Korea's K.J. Choi, arguably the hottest player in the game.

"Well, we'll see," said Garcia, who played his way into the final group at the Open at Hoylake last year but never threatened Woods despite being just one behind at the start of the day. "I guess it's just a matter of waiting and (we'll) see what happens. But I'd rather be leading than eight shots back, that's for sure, because you don't feel like you have to push your game to the limit all the time."

Garcia, 27, has not won a tournament on any tour in two years. He has gained a reputation as a fragile talent who is so unreliable on the greens that he's gone to a belly-putter. On the plus side, he'll be nowhere near his nemesis Tiger on Saturday. He'll be even more free and clear of Mickelson.

Choi, 37, has won the Memorial and the AT&T National within the last two months. He is nicknamed "Tank," and no matter what happens he just keeps plugging along, apparently impervious to pressure.

Several other players were within striking distance. Canadian Mike Weir, whose career has been in decline since he won the 2003 Masters, continued a recent resurgence with a three-under 68, the best round of the day. Weir is three under overall along with Miguel Angel Jimenez, also from Spain.

Six players were one under, including this year's U.S. Open champion, Angel Cabrera, and Andres Romero, both of Argentina; England's Lee Westwood; Scotland's own Alastair Forsyth; South Africa's Retief Goosen; and Henry, one of the lone U.S. stars at the last Ryder Cup. South Africa's Ernie Els and Ireland's Padraig Harrington were among seven players at even par. Adam Scott and Vijay Singh were in a large contingent at one over.