If one of the two were to win on Monday, it would be the first time an amateur has won the British Open – or any major championship for that matter – since 1930.
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Leading at the halfway stage on 10 under, the big-hitting American misfired badly to tumble down the leaderboard on Sunday (NZT Monday).
Johnson not only took a one-shot lead into the third round, he was overpowering St. Andrews with his length. The Aussie is set to start at 9:20 a.m. ET with Jordan Spieth, who is 1 shot back and aiming for his third straight major victory after winning the Masters and U.S. Open. “I just couldn’t hole the putts. I’m going to try and do the best I can, just focus on myself and stay in the present”.
“He made me so nervous on my second shot because I was going a completely different route, low, running, and I tugged it a little bit to the left”.
That gave him a one-shot lead over Danny Willett of England, who for the second consecutive year did not hit a single shot in the British Open on Saturday.
But if Johnson is to continue that trend he will have to reverse a worrying statistic.
Jordan Spieth shot 6-under-par 66 to revive his challenge to win the year’s first three majors, which hasn’t been done since fellow Texan Ben Hogan pulled it off in 1953.
He was still hopeful, though. I’m not sure you can say the same about anyone else on this list.
“I really need a solid round, though, because Dustin (Johnson) is not letting up”.
After completing a round that contained five birdies and a missed 8-foot putt for another birdie on the last, Day let his mind wander back to the 18th hole and the “best walk in golf“. I was trying, but it was just one of those days where it felt like it played very easy out there. “As we were walking off the green yesterday, he just said, ‘go get it done, you know what you need to do, like always.’ “.
He hasn’t had 7-over par next to his name at St. Andrews since he was a 19-year-old amateur, and that was the final round.
Amidst the weather delays and continuing implosion of Tiger Woods, there has been a few pretty awesome golf being played at The Open this year. “I’m aggressive when I can be and not when I can’t”, he said.
He has already won the Masters and the USA Open and needs the British Open crown to stand a PGA Championship away from being the first player in the history of the sport to achieve the calendar-year Grand Slam.
Willett failed to improve on his overnight score while Dustin Johnson also endured a frustrating day, finishing his final three holes with bogeys to drop to seven under.
Dunne then birdied four, seven and nine to move to ten-under par while a further birdie at ten saw him take the outright lead.
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The 27-year-old Queenslander is relishing the opportunity to become the first Australian since Greg Norman in 1993 to lift the claret jug, something he believes would put him in a group of “immortal” players. Sergio Garcia (9 under), Justin Rose (9 under) and Adam Scott (9 under) are the only real threats I see who could shoot 64 or 65 for the win.
