Even with 155 years of history, the British Open can still serve up a few odd twists at St. Andrews.
Advertisement
He may, though, just be the biggest threat to Dustin Johnson heading into the final two rounds at St. Andrews. Considering he was leading the Open Championship by a stroke with a handful of holes to play in his rain-delayed second round and considering he’d been showcasing near-flawless, machine-like golf since Thursday morning, he looked like a threat to put some distance between himself and the field.
As expected, Woods missed the cut at the British Open on Saturday after shooting a 3-over-par 75 to finish at 7 over for the tournament.
More than 24 hours after Dustin Johnson began his second round at the wind-lashed British Open he ended it still on top of the leaderboard on Saturday with Jordan Spieth trailing by five shots in a tournament that will now run into a fifth day. Previous year it was because he missed the cut.
In among Saturday’s carnage, a gust of wind sent Tiger Woods’ scorecard flying across a fairway.
Tiger Woods will not be around though as he missed consecutive cuts in majors for the first time in his career.
One month after a three-putt from 12 feet cost him a shot at the U.S. Open, Johnson walked the Old Course with a swagger. He parred the first three holes after the delay, then bogeyed the Road Hole 17th. “It was pretty amusing”, Johnson said.
Scotland’s Paul Lawrie, champion in 1999, completed a two-under 70 with eight straight pars to sit two shots back.
The shot of the day came from Daniel Brooks. “It’s just that it wasn’t getting through the wind”, he said. Johnson said he was among those complaining. He didn’t hit quite hard enough. The winner of the last seven majors has held the 36-hole lead. One hole later, the R&A realized it was too windy to continue.
“I believe I’m still in contention”. Once again, he started the week of a major upbeat about the state of his game and optimistic about his chances of contending. Spieth three-putted for par.
When he stepped off the 18th green Saturday, familiar questions awaited him.
“I play in a couple weeks in DC, so looking forward to playing the Quicken Loans, and hopefully win that event so I can get into a place that I know very well (Bridgestone Invitational)”. I need a really solid round tomorrow, though, because Dustin is not letting up.
Spieth, who managed to par the 14th to stay at five under, at least was not tangibly damaged by the brief on-course spell.
He took almost 30 minutes to hit one putt.
“I felt like I was playing well enough to win this event”, Woods said.
Advertisement
With the exception of playoffs, 2015 marks the second time in 144 competitions the Open would extend beyond Sunday.
