They're Nos. 1 and 1-A on any list of the world's great golfers. Nick Faldo and Greg Norman will determine who's who over the last 36 holes of the British Open.
Faldo and Norman reached the halfway point of this 119th and lowest-scoring Open Championship in a dead heat at 132, 12 strokes under par on the Old Course, and set up a head-to-head duel for world golfing supremacy.No one else was within four strokes of the run-away co-leaders, who will be paired together in Saturday's third round, a confrontation reminiscent of a couple of other recent British Opens in which leadership in the game was on the line.
Seve Ballesteros' triumph over Tom Watson here in 1984 made the Spaniard the undisputed leader of the game. Watson relinquished the role he'd secured in a one-stroke victory over Jack Nicklaus at Turnberry in 1977.
Neither Watson nor Ballesteros will be around to watch this latest in a series, however.
Both were victims of the unkindest cut in the history of golf's oldest tournament. A score of one-under-par 143 - the lowest ever by three strokes - was required to qualify for the final two rounds.
The old low was two-over par at Royal Troon last year. Eighty golfers made it then; 72 - par for the Old Course - advanced this time.
Norman, who has a recent history of come-from-behind, last-round challenges that seem to meet misfortune in golf's top events, returned to an earlier format here.
Just as he did in his only previous major-tournament triumph, the 1986 Open at Turnberry in which he led all the way, he wasted no time in this one.
He holed a magnificent sand wedge shot from 75 yards out for an eagle-three that served as the centerpiece Friday of a second consecutive 66 and now has shared the lead at the end of each of the first two rounds.
"A real shot in the arm, a bonus," he said of the soft shot that arched against a gray Scottish sky, hit the green four feet beyond the flag and spun back into the cup.
Faldo's approach was less dramatic but no less effective. Just as he has done so often in recent years, in victories in the 1987 Open and the last two Masters, the tall Englishman's elegant strokes were simply relentless.
He compiled a bogey-free 65 - matching the best score of the tournament - in the chilly weather and brisk breezes off the Bay of St. Andrews.
Faldo's may have been the more difficult role. He was playing behind both Norman and Ian Woosnam of Wales, all of whom shared the lead at one point or another.
"When you're all playing well, and holing putts, you look at the leaderboard and keep going," Faldo said.
"We were all sort of like chasing each other. It was a good mode to be in, going for every pin and trying to hole every putt. It was the key to the round. Everybody was adding to their score and when it's like that, it's a nice mode to be in."
And it provided some spectacular, record-matching golf to the 40,000-plus Scots who milled and mused over the course where the game was born. The 132 by Faldo and Norman tied the Open record for 36 holes, set by Henry Cotton at Sandwich in 1934.
Woosnam, the 5-foot-4 Welshman who won the last two events on the European tour, fell victim to the horrors of the Road Hole, the 17th at St. Andrews and often described as the toughest in the world.
He made double bogey there and drifted five strokes back at 137.
Craig Parry of Australia and Payne Stewart, the current PGA title-holder and the leader of the greatly diminished American forces, shared third at 136. Each had a 68.
Woosnam shot 69 and was tied at seven under par with Nick Price of Zimbabwe, a two-time runner-up in this event; James Spence of England; and Mike Reid, who let two major titles escape him last year.
Spence shot 65 as the first man off the tee, matching Faldo for the tournament's low round. Price and Reid each had a 67.
They were followed at 138 by Americans Jodie Mudd, Steve Pate and Peter Jacobsen, Jose-Maria Olazabal of Spain, Scot Sam Torrance and his elongated putter, and Anders Sorensen of Denmark. Mudd had a 66, Olazabal 67, Sorensen and Pate 68 and Jacobsen a 70 that included a birdie on the Road Hole.
Watson and Ballesteros each shot 145, two too many to make it into the final field. Ballesteros had a second-round 74 and Watson said he "three-putted myself to death" in a 73.
But they were not alone in their disappointment and frustration.
Take Mark Calcavecchia for example. The defending champion struggled to a 75 and was at 146 after what he called some "idiotic" play.
"It's painful because I came in with such high expectations," he said.
Curtis Strange also missed at 71-145.
And so did Arnold Palmer. The 60-year-old winner of this title who played his first British Open at the Old Course in 1960, shot 71-144 - even par - in his farewell appearance in the tournament he helped restore to the front ranks of golf's great championships.
While the head-to-head duel between Norman and Faldo may be a spectators' delight, Norman said he was supremely indifferent to the pairing.
"It doesn't matter who I play with or against," Norman said, while making it clear that he and Faldo were long-time friends.
"It doesn't matter who's ahead of me or who's behind me," Norman continued, "I'm trying to win the British Open at St. Andrews. That's what we're all trying to do."
And the man who has had so many major titles snatched from his grasp by the unlikely last-hole heroics of others was confident he could achieve the goal.
"I'm just going to go out and play the way I've been playing. That's the only philosophy I have. I can't say I'll shoot another 66, but I'll be a very happy man if I do.
"Today was very important. After a good first round, you want to come back with another good round. Tomorrow is important. Sunday is more is important.
"But by playing this round today, I got myself into a good rhythm going into the last two days."