Q&A with TNT's Jim Huber - Day Two

Our Emmy Award-winning essayist talks about the second round.

Jim Huber, TNT's Emmy Award-winning announcer, is at the Open Championship serving as the network's feature essayist and lead interviewer. PGA.com spoke with Huber following the second round Friday, and here are his thoughts of what unfolded at Royal St George's: The wind at Royal St George's died down some Friday but the greens sped up considerably. How mentally taxing are these conditions on the players?

Huber: Everything is sort of baked out right now. The greens have become like concrete. The guys are going nuts trying to figure out how to handle it. Later in the day it was so tough. Like yesterday, the early guys had it made, and it's going to be that way tomorrow. It's a total concentration picture. You can't count on the wind to be consistent at all. You've got to be aware and think your way through. This is not at all like golf as we know it. Here it's an adventure. That's why they say over here that par means nothing, it has no relevance. Par is a phony thing we set. Over here, the most important thing is your relation to everyone else around you.

Tiger's driver let him down in the first round. Friday it was his putter. How close is he to putting it all together, and if he does, what will be the result?

Huber: He was at a point today where we thought he was pulling away from everybody. He had everything working. But then he ran into the vagaries of the course and everything. He's exceptionally close to putting it all together. I hate to say that he's on the verge because you really don't know. But if anyone is predictable, he is. He's solved a few problems and eliminated some mistakes, so it looks like he's ready to move in . It looks like a different Sergio Garcia we're seeing this week at the Open. He's smiling more, walking with that youthful bounce in his step and playing solid golf again. Is he finally settling into his new swing? Huber: It seems like he's found some patience. I talked to him this afternoon after his round and I think he's learned to corral himself, learned this kind game he's not used to playing. Consequently, Sergio is enjoying himself, and playing much better golf.

What have the galleries been like? How would you compare them to those in the U.S.?

Huber: These people are amazing. They are the most polite, knowledgeable, extremely effective crowds. They cheer the right things and groan at the right things. It's funny -- When they're walking the fairways and you come up behind them in a cart, they apologize for being in the way. It's such a nice treat for the players to not be booed, not be yelled at or not to hear 'You da man' every time they hit. They're very respectful of golf and what it's done for them and their country. There were probably 45,000 people here today, yet they were a very orderly 45000 who made a lot of noise but didn?t scream their way around.