DUSTIN JOHNSON TOOK the lead in the clubhouse on the second day of the 150th British Open at St Andrews on Friday after a five-under-par round of 67 left him at nine-under at the halfway stage.
Johnson, one of the 24 members of the breakaway LIV Golf series present at the Open this week, followed his opening 68 with a bogey at the first after going out in one of the first groups of the day at 7.14am.
However, the American former world number one and two-time major winner quickly recovered from that with no more bogeys and six birdies, including one at the last which saw him move a shot ahead of overnight leader Cameron Young.
“I was really solid, hit a lot of greens and the times I was out of position I made some really solid two-putts”, Johnson told Sky Sports. “All in all, a really solid day.”
Following a sprinkling of overnight rain and a drop in wind, scoring in the morning run was low, with world number one Scottish Scheffler shooting a four-under 68 to move to second place, one shot shy of Johnson. Scheffler was joined in a tie for second place by Tyrrell Hatton, whose six-under round of 66 featured a run of four birdies in five holes around the turn.
Day one leader Cameron Young is tied with Scheffler and Hatton, and tees off at 1.30pm this afternoon. Johnson’s fellow LIV rebel Taylor Gooch earlier shot 69 to move to seven-under at the halfway stage, and he was joined there by Australian former Masters champion Adam Scott.
Playing with Johnson, Scott shot a brilliant second-round 65, the lowest round so far.
The low scoring means the projected cut line at lunchtime was even par, leaving Padraig Harrington at risk of missing the weekend: Harrington birdied his first two holes to move to five-under for the tournament, but went horribly awry from there, bogeying holes three, four, five, eight and 12 to drift to two-over for the tournament.
Tiger Woods is destined to miss the cut: plus-six to start the day, Woods birdied the third but bogeyed holes four and six to reach the turn at seven-over, and seven from the cut line. Darren Clarke bowed out with a three-over round of 75, meaning he finished at 10-over.
Seamus Power will be battling to make the weekend: he bogeyed his opening two holes to fall to three-over for the tournament. Shane Lowry, at even-par, tees off at 3.10pm this afternoon, shortly after Rory McIlroy, who gets his second underway at 2.59pm.
McIlroy’s six-under 66 yesterday means he will tee off three shots behind clubhouse leader Johnson, with trickier wind conditions expected later in the day.
Follow the leaderboard live here.
With reporting by AFP
