Jaidee leads annual memorial to the unknown golfer

United States Opens are renowned for producing surprises, but that hardly explains how Thailand's Thongchai Jaidee could possibly have stood within one shot of Tiger Woods at the halfway stage at Southern Hills. After all, what we have here is the world's undisputed No 1 golfer struggling to cope with a typically demanding US Open venue while, at the same time, Jaidee is thriving, despite his inability to come to terms with what to him is a completely alien American way of life.

Heaven forbid, if normal service is not resumed, we might even see Jaidee overhauling Woods, whose mother comes from Jaidee's country, and becoming the leading Thai golfer in the field.

Ask Jaidee, a former paratrooper who is currently second on the 2001 Asian Tour money list, how he is coping with life in the States and he will tell you he is struggling.

Both he and his caddie, Wanchai Meechai, a rules official on his home circuit, have been sleeping on the floor because their hotel beds are much softer than they are used to, and both have also abandoned all pretence at being able to eat American cuisine.

"My biggest fear is that I do not find a good Thai restaurant in Tulsa and will starve," Jaidee told reporters after he had produced rounds of 71 and 67 to lead the final qualifying at El Caballero CC in Tarzana, Cali-fornia. "During final qualifying, we left the Days Inn in Tarzana only to play golf and for meals at a Thai restaurant a block away. We tried some American restaurants, but the food was inedible."

Under the circumstances, therefore, it is a fine achievement for Jaidee to survive the cut after two opening rounds of 73, and he is by no means the only unknown golfer to have carved a significant niche for himself at Southern Hills.

At the top of the leaderboard after two rounds, America's J L (John Lee) Lewis, who has won one tournament, the 1999 John Deere Classic, but has seldom troubled the headline writers since, also comes into that category although, henceforth, he may be watched with more interest given his insistence that most of his ancestors are Welsh. Tim Petrovic, an uncelebrated American, is also still here, too, after rounds of 74 and 71 and is, no doubt, congratulating himself for all the practice he used to put in while working for three years as a hired hand at a local Pizza Hut (Jaidee, we presume, is unlikely to have visited).

"Yep, I'd make 'em, bake 'em, cut 'em up," he said, strangulating the English language as only an American can. "But, when we weren't busy, I'd get the clubs out of the trunk of the car and hit balls off a rubber mat in the parking lot."

"Over the trees and into the swamp," he added. "Those balls are probably still there."

Petrovic, Jaidee, Briny Baird, Anthony Kang and Stephen Gangluff have all made it into the weekend, but what is even more of a surprise is that, as the third round started, and the likes of Lee Westwood, Mark O'Meara and Freddie Couples had already departed for home, all of them were still within a shot or two of Woods.

These have been strange days, indeed, and not least for Woods. When he came here to Tulsa, the world's No 1 was the shortest-odds favourite in the history of the championship, having won all four of the most recent majors and in five of his last six appearances in both Europe and America.

Strangely, however, Woods has been a shadow of his normal self, producing rounds of 74 and 71 to stand nine shots behind the leaders and in need of the sort of charge that saw Lou Graham overhaul an 11-shot halfway deficit to win this title at Medinah in 1975.

Over the first two rounds Woods has struggled while Jaidee has prospered, but don't expect it to last. Certainly, his competitors are bracing themselves for the inevitable Woods backlash, and none more so than Colin Montgomerie.

"Just you wait for the fireworks," the Scot said after compiling creditable rounds of 71 and 70. Significantly, perhaps, he was looking over his shoulder as he spoke.