Weekley's backwoods charm proves a hit on first foreign foray

If Rory McIlroy didn't exist, British golf would want to invent the prodigy from Northern Ireland, who caused such a stir with his bogey-free first round.

If Boo Weekley didn't exist, you couldn't make him up. The maverick from rural America 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.

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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.

McIlroy, 18, and Weekley, 33, both drew the crowds here yesterday. McIlroy shot a five-over that dented his dream start but still makes him the best amateur so far. Weekley carded a 72 to add to Thursday's 68 to maintain his place among the leader-board pack on two under par overall.

"I just wanted to go out there and try my best, play golf and enjoy it, and that's what I did today," McIlroy said. "It is fantastic just to play the weekend."

Weekley 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 $2m (£970,000) - he has a southern drawl from central casting and oozes backwoods, down-home charm.

He hails from the Florida Panhandle, aka "the Redneck Riviera", and is quite unabashed that he had never travelled outside North America before this tournament. Yet he would be horrified if anyone who saw him yesterday, apparently covered in tattoos, actually believed he had any. He was merely wearing a thin, "interesting" jumper.

He knows little about Scotland or even golf's traditions. Asked to outline the main differences he has spotted between the US and Britain, he replied: "Y'awl 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."

Last week at Loch Lomond he made a gaffe when he asked Paul Lawrie whether he had managed to qualify for Carnoustie. Lawrie, champion in 1999, assured him he had "scraped in".

Weekley, a graduate of Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College, grew up hunting and fishing, and spent some time working 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 in a chat when he also outlined 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," Weekley said. "I ain't eating no fried blood."

Yesterday he could not give details about his British ancestors. "You'll have to ask my aunt," he said.

Nor could he share any memories of previous Opens he watched on television. "I've never seen one," he said. "I don't watch much TV." He also said recently: "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."