ROYAL BIRKDALE— "It looked like the end of the world out there," Nick Price said, understating mildly. "It wasn't much fun, I'll tell you that," said Tiger Woods. Yes, the British Open finally arrived today, in the form of pelting rain and wind that blew harder than most Golf Channel announcers. Ain't it grand?

The mild conditions of yesterday were an aberration, not to mention an abomination. The British Open is supposed to be about carnage, about man vs. nature, and I, for one, love to see the players get the back of the hairbrush. Believe it or not, it could get worse. Although it gusted up to 45 mph this afternoon, the average wind speed was thought to be closer to 20. According to the on-site weather team here, there is a low front moving across Ireland that could hit here Sunday afternoon, bringing average winds exceeding 30 mph and gusts up to twice that. How cool would that be?

At the halfway point let's assess the winners and losers. Being a sportswriter, I prefer to revel in the negative, so let's start with the losers:

LOSERS:

* Colin Montgomerie: Finished eagle-birdie today, which meant he only missed the cut by one stroke. His 73-74 was the seventh time in nine Opens he's slunk out of town Friday night with his tail between his legs. "I'm not angry," he said. "I'm used to this."

* John Daly: Took a sextuple bogey 10 at the 18th today, when a bogey would have earned him a tee time on the weekend. At the last tee he drove into a bunker, skanked it into another fairway bunker, and then took five "swishes" to get out, in the words of his playing partner Payne Stewart.

* Matt Kuchar: Got whipped by the other big-name amateurs. Justin Rose lit up the scoreboard and Sergio Garcia easily made the cut, while Kooch went 75-75 and went home. That ought to wipe the smile off his old man's face.

* Tom Lehman: Admitted finally that he was attempting a handstand when he hurt his shoulder. Displayed courage and not much else in shooting a second-round 79 to miss the cut. "I am not getting any younger and want to have some fun for myself and my family," he said. Fine, Tom, but use the 48 weeks a year when there isn't a major being played.

WINNERS:

*Justin Rose: His 66 (the low round of the day by two shots and one of only seven sub-par rounds) was almost as dazzling as his smile. He'll disappear on the weekend, of course, but for a day he is the toast of Great Britian.

* The six players at even par 140. This powerhouse group includes Couples, O'Meara, Love, Furyk and Parnevik, all only three back of surprise leader Brian Watts (a winner, I guess, but anyone American who chooses to play the Japanese tour over the PGA Tour doesn't deserve his own paragraph). All these boys are lurking and dangerous. O'Meara's 68 today was particularly stout, but Furyk and Freddie are the guys to keep an eye on.

* Tiger Woods: Blew his cushion early but rallied late to stay near the top of the leaderboard.

* Nick Price: Ditto.

Tiger had a tough day with the flat stick but still hung in there. His ability to blast his way around in the wind will make him tough on the weekend. Price's fairways-and-greens play is the archetype of what it takes to to succeed in these conditions. That's why he's my pick on the weekend. At least for the next 24 hours.

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