The left-hander shot a 69 yesterday in wet and windy weather to sit at 10 under par and lead the championship by a single shot from Sweden’s Henrik Stenson.
Advertisement
After finishing tied for seventh at the Masters in April, Kjeldsen is in third place – three shots behind Phil Mickelson – at the British Open on Friday following rounds of 67 and 68.
Justin Rose of England gestures after he tees off on the 15th tee in heavy rain during the second round of the British Open Golf Championship at the Royal Troon Golf Club in Troon, Scotland, Friday, July 15, 2016.
Then again, he wasn’t sure it mattered the way he was playing.
After the Thursday weather imported from San Diego, everyone agreed this qualifies as a British Open.
Rory McIlroy dropped two shots on Saturday, moving to even par for the tournament. He will attempt to win his first major sleeping on the lead at Troon.
“I don’t think that did anything to it”, Spieth said after a disappointing 72 left him five over par. So it should be an exciting afternoon….
It looks like a two-man race.
In his first round at a major since winning the U.S. Open, Johnson played a round that usually gets rewarded at a U.S. Open – 14 pars, two birdies, two bogeys.
The 46-year-old American is playing smart and efficient on a course that severely punishes wayward tee and approach shots. “After six tournaments not being there, it’s certainly time to get going”.
That grin would have been even wider had his tee shot to the infamous Postage Stamp eighth hole screwed back just another inch more for a remarkable hole in one. “But either way, I shot three rounds under par”. He made four birdies in seven holes to get back to even par before a bogey on the ninth to go out in 33.
Everyone else felt like mere spectators.
For the third straight time, he has to spend the rest of the week catching up.
It was unlikely to matter.
“That’s probably why I love it so much”. He also matched his best 36-hole total in a major (the others were at the 2001 and 2005 PGA Championships).
“I thought it was a good round to back up the low round yesterday”.
“I’ve got two thirds and a second – I know what I want to get out of this week”, he added, referring to his near-misses in the past.
A victory Sunday would give him six majors, same as Nick Faldo and Lee Trevino.
Stenson was on the verge of falling two shots behind until he holed a 40-foot par putt on the 10th.
Mickelson’s made his first bogey when he pulled an iron off the tee into the rough, missing a gorse bush by about two paces.
Of the 20 players who broke par, all but four of them went off in the morning and at least had a stretch of decent weather.
“I made one or two bad swings that led to bogeys but for the most part I kept the ball in play and played stress-free golf”, said the American, who won the Open at Muirfield in 2013 and admitted he enjoyed the unpleasant conditions that can constitute a Scottish summer.
“I came out with a more aggressive mindset, just changing up the game plan a little bit”.
Advertisement
“I’ve just got to keep trying to push forward and trying to get myself back into contention somehow”.
