CARNOUSTIE, Scotland — A shank for Sergio Garcia. A duck-hook for Tiger Woods.

Both shots were shocking to see on the opening hole at Carnoustie. The bigger surprise yesterday at the British Open was which player recovered — not the guy with 12 majors, but the one seeking his first.

"It was a solid shank," Garcia said, able to laugh after an even-par 71 put him 6-under 136 for the tournament and gave him a two-shot lead going into the weekend.

His 9-iron skidded into a nasty lie in the rough right of the green, and what followed was a chip that would have made short-game genius Seve Ballesteros proud. It skirted the edge of a bunker and rolled to tap-in range for an unlikely par that brightened Garcia's mood.

Woods, on the other hand, hit his iron off the tee so poorly that it found the Barry Burn. That's not unusual at Carnoustie, except the winding stream shouldn't come into play until the final hole, not the first one.

It was that far left.

He dropped the club right after impact and watched the ball sail over the gallery, hop along the turf and disappear into the burn and out-of-bounds, putting two strokes on his card before he put a ball in play.

"It was such a poor shot because the commitment wasn't there," said Woods, who made double bogey on his way to a 3-over 74 that left him seven shots behind at 143 in his quest to become the first player in 51 years to win the claret jug three straight times.

"Still not out of it," Woods said, even though 18 players separated him from the top of the leaderboard.

Garcia took another step toward validating his promise, grinding his way through chilly breezes with birdies on both par 5s and only a couple of mistakes that put him two shots clear of K.J. Choi.

He has contended for majors since he was a teenager, but the 27-year-old Spaniard looks as though he might finally have figured them out. Garcia wasn't at his best in the second round, but he was good enough.

"I was hoping for a little better than what I did," Garcia said. "But that was not a bad round. Every time you shoot on a difficult course ... an under-par or even-par round, you know you're not too far away."

Choi, perhaps the hottest player in golf with victories at two big tournaments in the last two months, was bearing down on Garcia with a string of birdies along the back nine until a bogey on the final hole that was a foot away from being worse. His tee shot narrowly avoided the burn left of the 18th fairway, forcing Choi to stand on the stone steps and punch back to the fairway.

"You've just got to play that hole as a par 5," Choi said after a 69 put him at 138. "Even if you get a bogey, just consider it a good par."

They will be in the final group today of a major that is starting to take shape.

The best round of the day belonged to former Masters champion Mike Weir of Canada, a 68 that put him at 3-under 139 along with another Spaniard, Miguel Angel Jimenez, who had a 70. Another shot behind was former U.S. Open champion Jim Furyk (70) and Boo Weekley, whose backwoods charm is starting to captivate Britain as much as his ball-striking.

The group at 1-under 141 included U.S. Open champion Angel Cabrera and two-time U.S. Open champion Retief Goosen.

Absent from the mix is Phil Mickelson, who missed the cut for the second straight time in a major.

Lefty needed a par on the final hole to make the cut but hit a power fade into Barry Burn for double bogey and a 77. It was a setback for the three-time major champion, who lost in a playoff last week at the Scottish Open.

"I thought I was playing better than this," Mickelson said.

Also leaving early was Colin Montgomerie, whose victory two weeks ago in Ireland renewed hopes that a major was still in his future. Paul Lawrie, the shock winner at Carnoustie in 1999, took double bogey on the final hole and missed the cut by one.

IN TIGER'S CASE, OFFICIAL JUST WENT BY THE RULES

The Royal & Ancient Golf Club stood by the rules official who gave Tiger Woods free relief from television cables in the British Open, even though its rules director said yesterday he was able to move the cables himself.

"We know Alan Holmes got the ruling right," said David Rickman, rules director of the R&A.

Woods' tee shot on the 10th hole Thursday went left into thick rough, resting on a strand of cables. Holmes, the incoming chairman of the R&A rules committee, tried to move the cables but found them to be fixed. In that situation, the player can drop the ball within one club length without penalty.

Woods' lie improved dramatically, from thick rough to trampled grass. He hit just short of the green and made an 8-foot par putt.

Mark Roe, a former European tour player working for the BBC, said he was able to move the cables a full yard, raising questions whether Woods was given preferential treatment.

Rickman said he went to the spot Thursday evening and said he also could move the cables. But he said he it was possible the cables had been snagged in high grass or by the stakes holding the ropes. He also said spectators might have been standing on the section of the cables.

"I don't have a clear explanation," he said. "Alan confirmed the cables were not readily movable."

FRUSTRATION GETS THE BEST OF STENSON, ELS

Henrik Stenson lost his ball out-of-bounds on the par-3 eighth hole, then he lost his temper.

The Swedish star, who won the Accenture Match Play Championship in February, smashed his club into the tee marker. He went on to make triple bogey and shot 40 on the front nine, then ended his round with a bogey on the 18th for a 76.

He could have saved his angry for late in the afternoon. The cut fell at 4-over 146, and Stenson missed by one.

Ernie Els also was frustrated by his putting, which he said cost him about four or five strokes. After missing a short putt on the ninth hole, the Big Easy let out an expletive loud enough for everyone to hear.

And he saved another one, slightly more mild, after a grilling from the media.

"That's just the way I felt," Els said. "Normally, I keep it all in. But I thought, 'Maybe let me get everything out.' I didn't see too many small kids, so hopefully, they all closed their ears. That's what a major does to you."