BBC SPORT | Special Events | 2000 | The Open

Tiger Woods shot a faultless round of 66 to take The Open by the scruff of the neck as Jack Nicklaus bade an emotional farewell at St Andrews.

Woods recorded three birdies in the first five holes of his second round and then added another three at the ninth, 12th and 14th to rocket to 11 under.

That took him three shots ahead of fellow American David Toms, who had carded a five-under par 67 earlier in the day, and left his rivals fearing the worst.

As for Nicklaus, who says he won't compete in another Open, he struggled to hold back the tears as he made his way down the 18th fairway at St Andrews.

Vision

His vision cleared in time for him to land a delightful chip shot to within six feet of the pin, but he just failed to sign off in style by dragging his birdie putt just left of the hole.

It left him on six over, which was not good enough to make the halfway cut.

David Toms
Toms: faultless round
Spaniard Sergio Garcia and American duo Steve Flesch and Loren Roberts were tied in third spot on seven under.

But the challenge of Australia's Jarrod Moseley faded badly after he had briefly joined Toms on eight under.

Six birdies in the first 12 holes sent the man from Down Under zooming up the leaderboard, but he suddenly began to drop shots at a fast rate of knots and found himself on three under.

Five golfers were on six under, among them overnight leader Ernie Els, who could only manage a level par 72 on day two.

Start

The others were Dane Thomas Bjorn and the American trio of Fred Couples, Phil Mickelson and Tom Lehman.

Couples made an impressive start to his round, picking up birdies at the second, fourth, seventh and eighth.

Jack Nicklaus
Nicklaus waves farewell
It could have been even better for the former Masters champion, but he dropped two shots at the 16th when his ball plugged in a bunker and he had to play out backwards.

As for Mickelson, he carded a six-under 66 after his opening round of 72.

Like Nicklaus, defending champion Paul Lawrie also missed the cut after finishing his second round at nine over par.

But there was good news for Jean Van de Velde, runner-up to Lawrie at Carnoustie last year.

Bunker

The Frenchman bogeyed the 17th after ending up in the Road Hole bunker but got back to five under after making a 10-foot birdie putt on the last.

Irishman Darren Clarke was also five under, together with American Dennis Paulson and Argentinian Eduardo Romero.

Another Argentine, Jose Coceres, hit a 66 to finish on four under, the same mark as England's Lee Westwood and world number two David Duval.

Irishman Padraig Harrington also finished on four over, stumbling home after looking capable of challenging for second place at one stage.

Colin Montgomerie was a further shot behind after a two-under par 70.

Shot of the day came from South African Manny Zerman, who fired an albatross - three under par - at the fifth.

The 30-year-old from Durban used a three iron approach on the 568-yard hole to lift his score to three over.


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