The storm was severe enough to topple the main scoreboard at the entrance and rip flags off the poles atop some of the grandstands.
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The round was to resume at 7 a.m.
Rory McIlroy shot another 1-under 71, with “so-so iron play”. “Thirty seconds later they blew the horn, so my name was mud walking up the 18th”.
That is two outside the expected cut line. He missed the cut Saturday after the second round of the wind-delayed British Open. In two hours Saturday morning, the final major of the year set the stage for what traditionally is moving day.
Of players who finished all 18 holes Friday, Sweden’s David Lingmerth is at 7-under.
After Japan’s Hiroshi Iwata had equalled the lowest round in major championship history with a superb 63, Spieth had carded a second round of 67 to remain firmly in contention to join Ben Hogan and Tiger Woods as the only players to win three majors in season.
“It was a day that started well and ended well, birdieing two of the last three holes”, said the Northern Irishman, who is competing for the first time since he ruptured an ankle ligament while playing football with friends on July 4. He topped that Saturday with his 6-under 30 on the back nine. He was breaking par here and there and losing ground, trailing by five strokes.
“Probably one of the worst putting rounds I’ve had in a very long time”, said the 14-time major champion, who has slumped to 278th in the world in the wake of injuries and changes to his swing.
“I drove better today and I played the best I could”, he told APN.
Day was trading birdies and bogeys early in his round before going on a tear.
“I’m still not pleased with the way I’m driving the ball at all”.
For all the talk about the heartbreak in the majors that Dustin Johnson has endured this year, don’t overlook Day. “We’ve got some scoring holes and some tough ones to finish on. And I just really have to keep plodding along and really keep doing the stuff that I’m working on”. Bouncing back, I certainly have a little chip on my shoulder this week that I want to get back from those last couple of holes at St. Andrews.
The Queenslander was in a similar position a year ago at the PGA behind Rory McIlroy at the halfway mark and faded to 15th. “It’s only the first round, we’ve still got a lot of golf to play”.
But Spieth was the big course mover on the second round.
The back nine brought three more birdies but also a pair of bogeys to leave the World No. 1 nine shots off the pace at six-under-par.
“You’re going to have to have more of a short game to be able to salvage par sometimes”, he said.
It only gave Tiger Woods a chance to get home to Florida this afternoon.
Woods had his work cut out for him.
The two stroke penalty and a missed putt at the 72nd hole cost him a place in the playoff won by Germany’s Martin Kaymer.
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That frustration became obvious when he returned a club to his bag with more force than was strictly necessary after his approach to the 14th ran over the green.
