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| |  Friday, 20 July, 2001, 12:20 GMT 13:20 UK Faldo misses Open cut Faldo: No chance to add to his three Open titles Three-time winner Nick Faldo has crashed out of The Open at the half-way stage. The Englishman finished on four over par after the opening two rounds - two shots outside the cut. He carded a level-par 71 in the second round, but the damage had been done on Thursday when a 75 left him with a huge amount of ground to make up. Faldo had been three under par at one stage in the first round before collapsing to four over.
He began the second round well enough, with a birdie at the third - but dropped shots at the next two holes took him back into deep trouble. This will be only the second time in 25 visits to The Open he has failed to complete the week. There was no room for excuses for Faldo, who admitted: "I'm just not playing well enough, that's the bottom line, simple as that. "I'm not hitting the ball well enough or close enough and it's hard to play a tough golf course like that." Faldo, who celebrated his 44th birthday on Wednesday, at first thought he could still qualify - under the rule that allows any player within 10 shots of the leader to play the final two rounds. And with Colin Montgomerie still leading on six under that would have been a possibility - but the problem was that the rule was abandoned after the 1995 Open at St Andrews.
"I'll get on my bike then," he shrugged in response. Denmark's Thomas Bjorn was another surprise casualty, following up his first round of 76 with an equally disappointing 75 to finish six shots outside the cut. Former Open champion Tom Lehman, who won the tournament was last played at Royal Lytham six years ago, also made an early exit. The man from Minnesota struggled throughout, opening with a 75 and following up with a 72. | |   
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