The 2016 British Open at Royal Troon , Day 2
(Friday at 1:30am ET on The Golf Channel)
Henrik Stenson followed up an opening round 68 with an even better performance, finishing Round 2 with a blistering 65, the best score of the day, carding 7 birdies to just 1 bogey. But as good as he was, he wasn’t good enough to catch leader Phil Mickelson, as Old Lefty finished the day with a 2-under 69, putting him at -10 through two rounds, just a stroke ahead of Stenson. Mickelson, who won the Open in 2013, came within a fews short inches of acing “The Postage Stamp,” the 123-yard 8th hole, as his tee shot bit the green, and rolled slowly back, before coming to rest just short of the pin.
South African Charl Schwartzel was the big mover of the day, shooting a 5-under 66 to put him at -4 for the tournament, and catapult him from 75th place to 6th. That was in sharp contrast to Billy Horschel, who plummeted from being tied for 4th to being tied for 129th after shooting a Day 2 worst 85, as he bogeyed half the holes, including 7 of the last 9.
And then there’s Andrew “Beef” Johnston, who was 2-under for the second day in a row, good enough for a share of 6th place at -4, 6 strokes off the lead. “Beef”, 27, might be more aptly called “Rollercoaster,” as he started Round 2 with a pair of bogeys, birdied 4 of the next 6 holes to get to 2-under, only to triple bogey on 11, and then par 15, 16 and 17 to get back to 2-under.
The early rounds on Friday were wet but not too awful, while the afternoon rounds were hit with a number of squalls. The change in weather was noticeable on the scoreboard, as the lower scores tended be for those who played earlier in the day. The weather forecast for Saturday is tolerable, as it’s supposed to be cool and cloudy, but with little chance of rain.
Here’s the top of the leaderboard following Round 2:
1 - MICKELSON, Phil -10
2 - STENSON, Henrik -9
T3 - KJELDSEN, Soren -7
T3 - BRADLEY, Keegan -7
5 - JOHNSON, Zach -5
T6 - FINAU, Tony -4
T6 - HAAS, Bill -4
T6 - SCHWARTZEL, Charl -4
T6 - JOHNSTON, Andrew -4
T6 - GARCIA, Sergio -4
T11 - NA, Kevin -3
T11 - KUCHAR, Matt -3
T11 - KAYMER, Martin -3
T11 - CABRERA-BELLO, Rafael -3
T15 - MOLINARI, Francesco -2
T15 - JOHNSON, Dustin -2
T15 - HOLMES, JB -2
T15 - HERMAN, Jim -2
T15 - REED, Patrick -2
T15 - AN, Byeong Hun -2
T15 - MCILROY, Rory -2
Here’s Saturday’s tee times:
3:25am (RSA) Haydn Porteous
3:35AM (USA) Patton Kizzire, (JPN) Kodai Ichihara
3:45am (USA) Bubba Watson, (ENG) Danny Willett
3:55am (USA) Jordan Spieth, (USA) Brandt Snedeker
4:05am (SCO) Paul Lawrie, (USA) Jim Furyk
4:15am (USA) Kevin Chappell, (USA) Harris English
4:25am (SCO) Colin Montgomerie, (ENG) Ryan Evans
4:35am (USA) James Hahn, (ENG) Graeme McDowell
4:45am (BEL) Nicolas Colsaerts, (KOR) Soomin Lee
4:55am (ENG) Justin Rose, (THA) Thongchai Jaidee
5:10am (USA) Ryan Palmer, (ESP) Jon Rahm
5:20am (ENG) Luke Donald, (RSA) Zander Lombard
5:30am (USA) Marco Dawson, (AUS) Scott Hend
5:40am (RSA) Branden Grace, (USA) Justin Thomas
5:50am (USA) Daniel Summerhays, (BEL) Thomas Pieters
6:00am (ENG) Lee Westwood, (USA) Charley Hoffman
6:10am (ENG) David Howell, (AUS) Jason Day
6:20am (NIR) Darren Clarke, (AUS) Marc Leishman
6:30am (USA) Harold Varner III, (ESP) Miguel Angel Jimenez
6:40am (USA) Mark O’Meara, (USA) Ryan Moore
6:50am (ENG) Andy Sullivan, (AUS) Greg Chalmers
7:05am (AUS) Matt Jones, (RSA) Richard Sterne
7:15am (USA) Gary Woodland, (USA) Steve Stricker
7:25am (WAL) Jamie Donaldson, (IRL) Padraig Harrington
7:35am (SWE) Alex Noren, (ENG) Matthew Southgate
7:45am (JPN) Yuta Ikeda, (USA) Webb Simpson
7:55am (USA) Jason Dufner, (AUS) Adam Scott
8:05am (SCO) Russell Knox, (USA) Kevin Kisner
8:15am (USA) RIckie Fowler, (ENG) Tyrrell Hatton
8:25am (IND) Anirban Lahiri, (ARG) Emiliano Grillo
8:40am (KOR) KT Kim, (NIR) Rory McIlroy
8:50am (KOR) Byeong Hun An, (USA) Patrick Reed
9:00am (USA) Jim Herman, (USA) JB Holmes
9:10am (USA) Dustin Johnson, (ITA) Francesco Molinari
9:20am (ESP) Rafael Cabrera-Bello, (GER) Martin kaymer
9:30am (USA) Matt Kuchar, (USA) Kevin Na
9:40am (ESP) Sergio Garcia, (ENG) Andrew Johnston
9:50am (RSA) Charl Schwartzel, (USA) Bill Haas
10:00am (USA) Tony Finau, (USA) Zach Johnson
10:10am (USA) Bradley Keegan, (DEN) Soren Kjeldsen
10:20am (SWE) Henrik Stenson, (USA) Phil Mickelson