ST. ANDREWS, Scotland -- South African Louis Oosthuizen surged to a three-stroke lead in the second round Friday at The Open Championship.
The second round has been battered by wind and rain which have turned St. Andrews into a survival test as the second round continues.
Oosthuizen, a 27-year-old from Mossel Bay -- whose given name is Lodewicus Theodorus Oosthuizen -- shot a 5-under 67 for a 12-under 132 at the midway point of the tournament.
He pulled ahead of the entire field, including Rory McIlroy, the 21-year-old Northern Irishman who tied the major-championship record with a 63 on Thursday.
McIlroy went out in 4-over 40 (with four bogeys in his first nine holes). He then four-putted the 11th hole for a double-bogey to fall to 3 under for the championship.
The early starters found blue skies when they arrived at the Old Course, but heavy rains rolled in shortly after the start of the round. The sun peeked through the clouds again, then more showers struck just before noon.
The showers moved out, but the wind remained. Play was suspended at 9:38 a.m. ET because of heavy winds. It resumed a little more than an hour later. During the break, some players returned to their lounge near the first tee to wait for conditions to calm. Caddies lounged on a grassy knoll, munching on sandwiches and bananas. Some fans claimed a patch of ground and caught a nap.
Tiger Woods bogeyed his first two holes ... both of which he finished after the delay. He was even par through nine holes of his second round.
John Daly, who pulled off a stunning 66 in the first round while wearing the flashiest outfit on the course: lavender paisley pants, pink shirt, sky blue sweater and turquoise cap, didn't tone it down Friday, teeing off shortly after noon in pink paisley pants, a lime green cap and a neon shirt.
Daly made two bogeys on the sixth and seventh holes to fall back on the leaderboard. He's 3 under for the tournament through 16 holes.
The weather, however, was a big part of the story.
"I got up this morning and it wasn't looking real pretty at 4:30," said 50-year-old Mark Calcavecchia, who played in the first group and became the latest old-timer to contend at the Open. Calcavecchia shot a 5-under 67. "It was actually beautiful when we teed off. Then we saw a little bit of everything."
Phil Mickelson, who made only one birdie in his opening round of 73, went out in the morning with hopes of getting back into the mix -- or at least to avoid going home. He looked better in the second round and shot a 1-under 70, which put him at even par for the tournament and seemingly safe to make the cut on the line.
Mickelson's sense of timing at this Open was terrible. He played Thursday with a more unfavorable afternoon tee time, and caught the worst of the wind before the suspension.
"It's very difficult," Mickelson said. "Every hole is a tough par in these conditions."
The wind, always the best defense at a links course, continued to whip the flags above the grandstands as play lingered into the evening, thanks to the delay.
Oosthuizen didn't have to worry about that. He was finished by lunchtime.
"I'm very confident with the way I'm playing," Oosthuizen said. "It's probably the position anyone wants to be in playing a major on the weekend, and I think it's what we work to achieve, and I'm just very happy with the two rounds I put together."
There was nothing to indicate he might contend at golf's oldest major championship. He missed the cut this year at both the Masters and the U.S. Open, and did the same at last week's Scottish Open.
In fact, this is only the second time he'll make the cut in nine major appearances. The other time he did, at the 2008 PGA Championship at Oakland Hills, he finished last among those playing on the weekend. But he did claim his first win on the European Tour this year, earning a spot at Augusta National.
With the wind at his back, Oosthuizen went with shorter clubs off the tee to keep the dreaded pot bunkers out of play. He got a bit wild on the back nine, starting out birdie-bogey-birdie-bogey-birdie before he settled down with a couple of pars and a 15-foot birdie at the final hole to leave him with a good feeling going to a weekend that will be like none he's ever experienced before.
"I'm just having a lot of fun," said Oosthuizen, who strung together three birdies in a row beginning at the par-5 fifth, where a driver and a 4-iron left him with a chip that he left 5 feet from the flag.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Oosthuizen's 15 birdies through two rounds is the most in the last three Open Championships held at St. Andrews. Peter Lonard had 14 in 2005.
Two Englishman, Paul Casey and Lee Westwood, are tied at 138, giving the Brits a couple a contenders to end the 11-year drought in their home major.
Casey managed a 69 despite a triple-bogey at No. 17, the famed "Road Hole." A drive into the thick rough left of the fairway led to big trouble; even aiming sideways, he needed two whacks to get out, then he came up short on the approach and two putted for a 7.
Westwood shot 71 with 17 pars and one birdie at the par-5 fifth hole.
Calcavecchia will try to finish what 53-year-old Greg Norman (the 54-hole leader in 2008) and 59-year-old Tom Watson (who had a potential winning putt on the 72nd hole last year) started.
Both came up short of becoming the oldest major champion in golf history, a title that still belongs to Julius Boros, who was 48 when he captured the 1968 PGA.
"You see a guy like Tom Watson last year, almost winning when he was almost 60, and you realize that it doesn't really matter how old you are," said Calcavecchia, relishing his best round ever at St. Andrews. "The old guys can hang with the young guys."
Ricky Barnes, a runner-up at the 2009 U.S. Open, shot 32 on the front nine -- including an eagle at the fifth -- but he was seven shots worse on the backside for a 71 (139). Still, at 5 under, he's in solid position on the leaderboard.
Also in at 5 under are Tom Lehman (68), Peter Hanson (73), Miguel Angel Jimenez (67), Graeme McDowell (68) and Retief Goosen (70).
Among those who appear destined to miss the cut are Ricky Fowler (2 over despite shooting a 5-under 67), Angel Cabrera and Ben Curtis (5 over) and Jim Furyk, Justin Leonard and Geoff Ogilvy (6 over). |
