SOUTHPORT, England — You can pack sweaters, rain suits, umbrellas, turtlenecks, ski hats, hand-warmers, and whatever else is in your apparel arsenal.
    

But you can’t pack attitude. You either have it or you don’t. More accurately, you either have a good attitude or you have a bad attitude. The opening round of the 137th British Open clearly showed which players were in which column in regards to that, but here’s a hint: To those who have bad attitudes, check toward the bottom of the scores, whereas if you need to see which players have good attitudes, the northern end of the agate list would help give you a guide.

Now as a preface, let the record show that the weather was miserable. The wind was steady at anywhere from 20 to 30 miles per hour and on occasion it gusted with even greater strength. Rain? It came down steadily for most of the morning. Throw in the 50-55 degrees that generated a cold, raw day and no one would try and tell you that it was precious fun.

But good gracious, it sure set the stage to see who did and didn’t have their competitive spirits in synch and oh, how there was clear separation.

Consider Pat Perez’s assessment of the day after shooting 82: “I don’t see it as golf.”

Consider Jerry Kelly holding court after his 83 and moaning about the tees at the 436-yard 11th and 439-yard 16th, how they were set too far back and thus was it unfair.

Consider someone named Simon Dyson, who moaned that “you can’t play,” and shamelessly defended Sandy Lyle’s callous decision to walk off the course, forget that it was unbecoming of a professional, especially for a former winner of this greatest of all golf championships.

Now consider the combined achievements of those men in terms of big-stage golf. Kelly has two PGA Tour wins, Dyson two in Europe, while Perez once won a Nationwide Tour event. The majors? Well, wake me one of them does a thing, because combined they’ve played in 51 of the biggest championships with but four top 10s. That’s combined, folks. Four.

And they’re the ones who are allowed to offer perspective? I think not. Instead, let us lean on chaps named Padraig Harrington, Retief Goosen, and David Duval. It’s doubtful that they need introductions, given that they combine for 63 world-wide victories, four of them of the major championship variety.

If they have something to say, it is only right to listen. They have earned it, you could say, and before we go any further, let it be made clear that Harrington and Goosen played in Game 9, a few behind Dyson, Perez, and Kelly, so they absorbed the same sort of battering weather, and Duval was in the morning wave, too.

And just how did these distinguished men see it?

Harrington: “I enjoyed the battle today. I enjoyed going out there, and it really was a battle.”

Goosen: “I don’t mind tough conditions. In a way, you sort of feel that maybe half of the field is sort of not trying anymore, because [of] the tough conditions.”

Duval: “We were going to have a hard day and you’d better be comfortable rolling the golf ball on the ground and figuring it out. That’s just what it is all about here, just figuring out how to get around.”

Now Duval offers an intriguing vantage point in this discussion, because if anyone could be forgiven for having a bad attitude, it would be him. Directing his attention toward other aspects of his life — namely a wife and their children — he wandered away from golf several years ago after having reached the peak (the 2001 British Open championship) and the desire to find his way back has been rough.

In a dozen PGA Tour tournaments this year, Duval has cashed one check, and while some in the media have had a hard time dealing with him, this much has always been true: Duval is genuine and rarely does he make excuses or look for someone or something to blame.

In other words, he’s got a good attitude, which is why he stood just as cold, just as wet, just as wind-blown as Dyson, Perez, and Kelly, but refused to share their whine.

“I think it would have been very easy to shoot 80, 82, 83 today if you get sideways with yourself a little bit and don’t kind of laugh it off out there at what’s going on,” said Duval.

Funny thing, Dyson shot 82, as did Perez, while Kelly went for 83.

Miserable days, each and every one, but shame on them, they couldn’t laugh it off. No, they had to carry their moans and groans off the 18th green and show the unfortunate flip side of this great game — that is, the grumblings of players who forget the bottom-line mantra of golf. It’s the same for everyone.

That means you, Heath Slocum.

He’s the one who didn’t have an official spot in this championship, yet he flew over anyway, hung out and practiced in cold, miserable weather for two days, and remained passionate about this championship. His commitment was rewarded when Toru Taniguchi withdrew and while Slocum had every reason to make excuses, he instead went out and made two birdies against five bogeys for a commendable 73.

One of the shorter hitters on the PGA Tour, Slocum faced those same challenging tees at the 11th and 16th that had Kelly all wrapped up. Roughly calling for a 200- to 210-yard carry, each one was played into a fierce wind, one which caddies estimated at 50 yards. Thus were players being asked to hit what translated into drives of 250-260 yards.

Slocum pulled it off each time, perhaps motivated by a burning passion to play in his first British Open.

Amazing what a good attitude can help you with.