The Open 2015: day three – as it happened
Play was suspended for most of the day, but when the gales finally eased off, the second round was completed. And at the halfway stage, Dustin Johnson leads the way.
8.51pm BST
And that, dear Family Golf, is your lot for today. It’s been another weather-addled marathon. And a good day for Dustin Johnson, Paul Lawrie and Sergio Garcia. There are at least 20 players who could potentially win the 2015 Open. Here are some of them - and what a stellar leaderboard it is! Nighty night! See you in the morning for Moving Day!
-10: D Johnson
-9: Willett
-8: Lawrie
-7: Warren, Z Johnson, Scott, Streb, Day, Oosthuizen
-6: Dunne (a), Goosen, Donald, Matsuyama
-5: Bowditch, Lahiri, Ogilvy, Rose, Schwartzel, Garcia, Spieth
8.30pm BST
It’s been all pars on the back nine for David Howell. He kept his run going at the Road Hole, getting up and down brilliantly with the putter from miles off the front of 17. And now he’s slotted away a nervy five-footer for par at the last, having fizzed a chip miles past the flag. After a one-over round of 73, he’s -3 at the halfway mark.
8.20pm BST
Brilliance from David Duval! He skelps his drive down the last. Straight at the flag. He’ll have a curly 40-footer left. He lags it up to 18 inches, a brilliant putt that deserves an eagle, but a tap-in birdie will do! It secures his passage into the “weekend”; he’s made the cut for the first time since 2008! All smiles as he pops the putt into the cup. A lovely end to the day. Duval was in a group with two other erstwhile Open champions, and they both birdie the last as well: 2009’s
Tom Watson
Stewart Cink ends with a 71, -3 overall, while 2003’s
Thomas Bjorn
Ben Curtis has shot 75 and at +5 is away home.
8.06pm BST
Poor old David Duval. The 2001 Open champion, one of the most popular players in the game, hasn’t made the cut in this tournament since Birkdale in 2008. He looks in good nick coming down 17, level par, creaming his second into the front of the green. But a miserable three putt drops him below the cut at +1. He’ll need something coming up the last. The nervy tiddler he missed for par was that of a man desperate to stay here for the weekend. Here’s hoping he pulls something out of the bag down the last.
8.02pm BST
Koepka drives into the Valley of Sin, then leaves his putt up a good 12 feet short. He doesn’t hit the birdie putt either, and he finishes with a 70. Should have been a little better, that. He’s -3. Meanwhile here’s Scott Arnold of Australia, playing in the Open for the first time. He fancies staying around for the
weekend
final couple of days. The 29-year-old suffered in the wind and fading light yesterday evening: he went out in 40 strokes. After his first round of 71, that dropped him to +3, three shots below the cut. But he’s just carded four birdies in a row, 12 through 15, and he’s -1, three holes from the safety of the clubhouse.
7.47pm BST
Barrack-Room Brooks Koepka may have used up a few too many joules engaging in trenchant legal debate with the officials on 11 this morning. For he’s running out of steam late on: a very makeable birdie chance is spurned on 16, then he leaves himself a monster par putt from the back of 17. He gives it a good go from 50 feet - expect nothing less from a potential future major champion - but it’s two feet short and the bogey drops him back to -3.
7.34pm BST
From the back of 18, Oosthuizen chips to ten feet. Day, just to the right of the Valley of Sin, lags up to four feet. Tiger, from the front edge, whistles a hot putt eight feet past the cup. Oosthuizen with the first birdie effort: it’s short and right, and he taps in for par, and a 70. He’ll be content enough at -7, three off the lead going into the “weekend”. Tiger’s putt dies off to the right, too, and he’s signing for a 75. He’s +7 overall, and misses the cut for the second major in a row, the first time he’s suffered that indignity in his career. He’ll be back. Don’t listen to
your coach
the naysayers, Tiger. And finally a little missable curler for Day, but he eases it in from the left and cards a 71. He’s -7, alongside Oosthuizen and quite a few others. Here’s how the top of the leaderboard looks after the second round, with nobody still on the course within striking distance:
-10: D Johnson
-9: Willett
-8: Lawrie
-7: Warren, Z Johnson, Scott, Streb, Oosthuizen, Day
7.25pm BST
Tiger and Day both blast their drives at 18 straight towards the flag. Both look like bumping up very close, both eventually just die before the green. Oosthuizen has overcooked things to the back-left of the putting surface. Meanwhile the veteran Australian journeyman Greg Chalmers has only participated in two previous Opens: 1998 at Birkdale and 2012 at Lytham. He made the cut both times, and looks like doing so again. He’s -3, but it should be better because he’s just missed the tiddler of the day, high winds earlier and all, pushing a two-footer birdie chance to the left of the cup at 14.
7.16pm BST
A solid par for Paul Lawrie on the last, though he gives his birdie effort from 12 feet a decent look at the hole. He signs for a 70, and is perfectly placed for the weekend. Look!
-10: D Johnson (F)
-9: Willett (F)
-8: Lawrie (F)
7.14pm BST
Back to back birdies for Brooks Koepka, at 14 and 15. He’s -4, and nicely placed. Unlike his ball on 11 this morning, a state of affairs which caused him to engage belligerently with the rules official for nigh on 30 minutes. Wonderful. A long birdie putt on 14 for 2009 dreamwrecker Stewart Cink: he’s -3. And fighting pars all round on 17 for Oosthuizen, Day and Woods, though it’s Tiger again who grabs the attention, splashing out to a couple of feet from the infamous bunker. He’s going out with a flourish.
7.07pm BST
Lawrie trundles a putt up the bank at 17 to eight feet, and then sinks yet another staunch par saver. He’s -8, and 1999 suddenly doesn’t look quite so long ago. For a while, he’s just the one off the lead. But Dustin drives the 18th, lags a monster putt to a couple of feet, and taps in for a birdie. He signs for a 69, and he’s -10, one clear of Danny Willett and a couple clear of the home favourite Lawrie. Spieth matches him shot for shot: his birdie secures a level-par 72, and he’s at -5, right in the mix. As is Hideki Matsuyama, who pars the last and puts his scribble at the bottom of a stunning 66. He’s -6, and like Dustin and Sergio, looks in the mood to make his major breakthrough.
7.02pm BST
A decent two-putt par from the back of 16 for Louis Oosthuizen. He stays at -7. Par for Day as well; he’s -6. But a little something at last for poor old Tiger: a birdie, having bothered the flag with his second, tapping in from a couple of feet. If that. He’s back to +7, for what it’s worth. To his great credit, he greets the wild celebration of his loyal gallery with a wide smile. Imagine if ... no, when he gets back to his best. Imagine the rest of the golfing world looking over their shoulder and thinking ... aw no! That’d be something else. Plenty of time. God speed on your journey back, Tiger Woods.
6.57pm BST
Hole in one! Step forward Daniel Brooks. He’s on the 11th tee, in the penultimate group, and +6 for the tournament. The hole’s playing 163 yards. He whips his iron to the left of the flag, where it lands on a downslope, kicks to the right, takes a couple of small bounces, and bounds into the cup! A brilliant shot! He high-tens his caddy, then holds both hands in the air, palms out, and spins through 360 degrees in glee! What a moment for the 28-year-old Englishman, who in all likelihood won’t be making the cut, but has something very precious to take home with him. A hole in one! At the Open Championship! At St Andrews, the home of golf! And this on his Open debut, too. Wonderfully warm scenes at chilly St Andrews!
6.51pm BST
Trouble for Dustin? Nah. He’s now in the best nick on 17, sending a wedge, with the gentle power of Lennie from Of Mice And Men, into the front of the green, using the camber to tilt the ball round left to 20 feet. Matsuyama’s off the front in two shots, but he putts up to the right of the famous bunker to a couple of feet. Par: -6. Dustin two putts for his par as well: -9. But Spieth’s right at the back of the green, and he three-putts: -4. It’s not quite happening for him. Though he’s hardly out of it.
6.44pm BST
Lawrie leaves another putt short, this time on 16. He’s caught a dose of the Montys. But he knocks in the four-footer he leaves himself. Two great saves in a row. He can’t keep doing that, though. He’s still -8. Oosthuizen grabs back the shot he dropped at 14 on the very next hole, rolling in a lovely ten-footer for his birdie. He’s back to -7. Day taps in for par. And another bogey for Tiger, who is now +8. He’s gone 5-6-5 since the restart. Meanwhile back on 18, Lee Westwood does his best to miss a Doug Sanders sized tiddler for par, but he signs for a 73. A miserable end to a miserable day, but he’s at least here for the weekend.
6.40pm BST
Come on Sergio Garcia!!! He’s pin high on 18, ten feet from the flag, and he teases in a gentle left-to-right curler for another birdie! He’s finished with three birdies in the last five holes, a round of 69, and he’s -5, right in this tournament! How he must wish the winds would blow for 11 hours every day! He’s been simply brilliant since the restart!
6.37pm BST
Lawrie’s in a spot of trouble in the rough down the left of 16. But he skelps a delightful power iron into the heart of the green, and should secure a precious par from where he is. Birdie for Schwartzel to finish: he cards a 72, and he’s -5. He’ll be a little less livid about that double on the Road Hole now. A little less livid. Bubba finishes with a birdie too, but he’s +3, and away home, slain by the Road Hole. And driving down that famous hole, Spieth, Matsuyama and Johnson. The first couple of drives are peachy, but Dustin’s wanged his into the thick nonsense down the left. He’s in a spot of trouble there.
6.34pm BST
Day scrambles his par on 14, and remains at -6, but he’s joined there by his playing partner Oosthuizen, who can’t save himself from the bunker. Tiger, from a good position on the fairway, bogeys too. He’s +7. He’s hung around an extra day for this?!
6.31pm BST
Spieth, Dustin and Matsuyama are all in the rough down 16. Only Spieth gets anywhere near the hole, leaving himself a 15-foot birdie putt. The other two will be happy to get down in two putts from the fringe. Dustin’s got a 40-footer with plenty of wind cutting right to left. He leaves it eight feet short, and left to boot. But he strokes in a solid saver. He stays tied for the lead at -9. Spieth can’t convert his birdie chance, the ball staying high on the left. But he’s happy with his par: he’s -5. And Matsuyama lags up from the back to three feet, and slots away his par putt. He’s -6, and if he pars his way home, will be signing for a 66.
6.29pm BST
Birdie for Sergio! A rare shot picked up on the Road Hole! He’s suddenly -4 for the tournament, and this is a strong finish to his round: birdies at 10, 14 and now this one on 17. But another dropped shot for his partner Westwood, this time at 17. He’s on the cut mark now at level par. Don’t drink 15 pints of coffee in ten hours, kids.
6.24pm BST
Lawrie’s a bit wild off the tee at 15, and can only bump onto the front of the green with his second from rough. His first putt from distance is left ten feet short, but he nails the par saver, to the loudest cheer of the day. He stays at -8. Though that loud cheer is soon beaten on 17, where Sergio Garcia, from rough down the left, scampers an iron into the green. His ball, travelling fast and heading for trouble miles behind the green, hits the flagstick, then spins to a halt ten feet from the flag! He could have been in all sorts of trouble there, but now he’s got a birdie chance that’d take him to -4.
6.20pm BST
Bubba’s playing partner Charl Schwartzel has no more luck on 17. He’s snagged up in the thick stuff to the front left, and can only hack out to the front of the green, a large upslope facing him. His par putt slides wide left, a couple of feet away, a decent attempt. Then he misses the bogey tiddler. He drops back to -4. A costly cold start for the pair of them, albeit in different ways.
6.16pm BST
Bubba in bother down the Road Hole. He’s on the titular track, and his chipping four up onto the green. And straight back through it. He’s already +1, and won’t be here for the weekend. No he won’t, sir. He chips up to eight feet, then recoils in horror his double-bogey putt lips out. A triple, and he’s +4. Bubba isn’t the first superstar to come a cropper at the Road Hole, and he won’t be the last.
6.14pm BST
Oosthuizen’s long iron into the par-five 14th is swallowed up by one of the deep bunkers to the front-left of the green. Trouble there. And then Day follows him in! Tiger’s drive was the worst of the three, but as he’s forced to chop out of thick rough and take his medicine, he’s in the best nick after two shots. He’ll not be making this weekend, though. His first act after the restart was to tap in for a bogey on 13, and at +6 he’s got no hope of making the cut. This will be his second missed cut at a major in a row, and only his second missed cut at an Open in 19 appearances as professional and amateur. That other one came at Turnberry in 2009. You remember, the one Tom Watson won. Spiritually. I accept no other outcome.
6.08pm BST
All that caffeine hasn’t had much of an effect on Lee Westwood. A curiously under-stimulated par putt from distance on 16. He leaves himself a missable six-footer, and that one’s prodded out to the right. A double bogey, and he’s back to -1, with the projected cut at level par now very much a consideration.
6.05pm BST
Two putts from distance for par on 14 for Paul Lawrie, the 1999 champ. Sixteen years ago today, he creamed that 4-iron into the final hole of the play-off at Carnoustie with Jean van de Velde and Justin Leonard. He’s in fine position for the weekend as he looks for a second Open title. He’s -8, one behind Willett and Dustin. Plenty of time for things to go either way, though. What he’d give to be spirited into the clubhouse now.
6.02pm BST
So here we go. And it’s only right that we start with Louis Oosthuizen, whose two-foot par putt became an eight-footer in that wind, ten-and-a-half hours ago. Happily, he sinks it, and walks off with a huge smile on his face. That’s lovely to see. And you can bet quite a few folk high up in the R&A will be wiping their brows in relief. He stays at -7.
5.57pm BST
All the players are out on the course. They’re back in position, waiting for the hooter. We’ll be golfing in a minute!
5.43pm BST
You Ask, We
Transcribe Off The Television
Answer! “What is happening with the players? Are they warming up, and how did they spend the day?” asks Mark Emanuelson. Well, Mark, they’re all out on the range, getting their chops up, with a 6pm restart still on the cards, the winds dropping to an “acceptable” 25-30 mph. And the BBC have just asked Lee Westwood what he’s been up to for the past ten hours. “Sitting. Eating. Sitting. Drinking coffee. Eating. Sitting. Drinking coffee. Eating. Sitting. Drinking a bit more coffee.” There’s a career in journalism for him when he packs in playing, if he wants it.
5.10pm BST
For those wondering if this tournament has the potential to rumble on for weeks or maybe even months - and still no Open has been held in December, January, February or March - here’s a weather update for tomorrow and Monday. Some common-or-garden Scottish misery. That’s it! But in more detail ... heavy rain in the morning tomorrow, then cloudy for the rest of the day. On Monday, it’ll be dry in the morning, with rainy spells in the afternoon. But nothing dramatic like the floods of yesterday or the tempest of today. So there should be no suspensions in play. (Having said that, our snout out on the Old Course tells us that while it’s still windy out there, the conditions are absolutely playable, with gusts that’d generate no comment had this morning’s farce not taken place. Testing, but not unacceptable. However the R&A are playing it ultra-conservatively, as is their wont. Fair enough, but perhaps we shouldn’t second-guess too many of their decisions over the rest of the piece.)
4.40pm BST
Predictably enough, the resumption time has been put back yet again. We’re now looking at a 6pm start. Time to kill, so here are the stats from that 32-minute piece of performance art this morning. There were 52 holes completed. Three birdies were made, while there were 16 bogeys and four double bogeys. The combined score to par: +21. One of those rare birdies was made by the 19-year-old French amateur Romain Langasque, who raked one in from distance on 15. It’s almost as though, fresh-faced and simply happy to play in an Open, he just got on with it.
4.20pm BST
And in further consumer news ... In accordance with R&A T&Cs, and based on “the projected duration of today’s play”, today’s punters with a Daily ticket will be eligible for a 60 percent refund. All official parking will be fully refunded. And in a lovely old-school touch, applications for refunds will only be accepted if submitted in writing. Long-hand presumably. No capital letters. No green ink.
4.07pm BST
The second round is still expected to restart at 5pm. In the meantime, the R&A have issued the following ticket news. Daily tickets for Monday will be £10 for all spectators. Under-16s accompanied by an adult get in for free. Weekly tickets will be valid for Monday.
3.05pm BST
Oh for goodness sake. The wind has “still not dropped to acceptable levels”, and so now we’re looking at a 5pm restart rather than 4pm. The R&A will issue a further update at 4pm. We should still get the second round finished tonight, but what a shame for the punters who went to St Andrews today. I hope they’re all enjoying a few nippy sweeties.
1.35pm BST
Moving Day has been moved! The R&A have made some plans, and here they are. Play today is expected to resume at 4pm, as the forecasts expect the wind to drop to acceptable levels sometime after 3pm. The second round will be completed this afternoon. After which the third round - Moving Day, in the modern parlance - will be played tomorrow, leaving the final round to take place on Monday. An announcement will be made “regarding Saturday and Monday tickets” shortly. So there you have it, then. Only the second Monday finish in post-war Open history awaits us. The only man in the modern era to lift the old Claret Jug on a Monday? Seve. Shoes to fill.
1.00pm BST
Anyway, should the R&A say anything of import, you’ll be the first to hear. But hopefully they’ve got the forecast spot on, and the players will be sent out again between 3pm and 4pm. So please check in with us for that. In the meantime, here’s Andy Gordon, clearly a reader of preambles of yesteryear: “I think we now know that Dr Golf is an NHS Consultant and doesn’t reply to pages on a Saturday.” No wonder the Open’s going private in 2017.
12.45pm BST
The R&A are getting quite a bit of stick this morning. In fairness, it’s hard to see what else they could have done. Their people got up at daybreak and monitored balls placed on the exposed 11th green, and none of them moved. The players were sent out, and the winds picked up, so they took them back in. Granted, they perhaps shouldn’t have trundled their mowers over the 13th green, turning it into an air-hockey table, much to Louis Oosthuizen’s chagrin, his two-footer turning into a six-footer. But the player himself has taken it in good spirits, perhaps recalling that he got the best of the weather in 2010, while high winds did for Rory McIlroy that year. Swings and roundabouts. That’s Open golf. If every single tournament was played in Masters conditions, we’d soon get pretty bored. Golf needs both polar opposites, in equal measure.
12.30pm BST
The R&A aren’t ruling anything in or out right now. Play is unlikely to start before 3pm - that’s their “best-case scenario” - but they’ll be reviewing the situation at 2pm nonetheless. However the duty meteorologist has just told the BBC that 4pm may be a little more realistic, and it’ll still be damned windy, though the winds will drop from the current 40-45mph to a more manageable 30mph. A suggestion that the winds could drop to a breezy 20mph was deemed “optimistic”.
But that’d still give us five hours of play, before the light begins to fade. So at the very least, we should get the second round completed today. Whether the third round will begin today is another matter. And don’t even ask the R&A about threeballs or split tee-times in order to get everything done by tomorrow evening. They’re not committing. The simple solution, of course, would be to hold the third round tomorrow, and the final round on Monday. However the wants and needs of players, paying punters, broadcasters and traditionalists all have to be factored in. Good luck keeping everyone happy there.
12.16pm BST
All this waiting around is such a shame, but that’s part of the Open’s unique charm. No wind, no rain, no golf, as they say in Scotland. So, hey, it’s the risk you run. We’ll still get our four rounds of major championship golf. But it’s beginning to look like a Monday finish might be on the cards. If things pan out like that, it’ll be only the second Monday finish in Open history, the first coming in 1988 at Lytham. More about that, and other meteorological Open calamities, here.
12.00pm BST
12 o’clock, and all’s not well! The R&A have been poring over the weather reports, and it seems there’s going to be no realistic chance of play before 3pm. They’ll be giving another update in a couple of hours at 2pm, so this morning’s report has had, if nothing else, a gentle rhythm to it.
10.06am BST
An update! And sadly there’s still no play. There are 40mph winds razoring across the Old Course, and as we saw during that 32-minute circus performance earlier this morning, play’s simply not possible under those conditions. Fingers are crossed - interlocking or Vardon grip, take your pick - that we’ll get some play just after midday. But no promises: the winds could be up until mid-afternoon, so we’ll have to see how it goes. We’ll be back at high noon: high on life, high on golf.
8.06am BST
The R&A have announced there will be no play for at least two hours. What a downer. But the conditions were farcical, Titleists being blown around greens in the pinball style. It’s been a miserable morning for Jason Day and Dustin Johnson, who have both dropped shots in the high winds; an irritating one for Jordan Spieth, who is channelling Sam Snead right now in his disdain for the set-up here; and a very good morning for Danny Willett, who may yet be tucked up in his bed. We’ll be back here at 10am, when there’s hope of more golf.
-9: Willett (F), D Johnson (15)
-8: Lawrie (13)
-7: Warren (F), Z Johnson (F), Scott (F), Streb (F), Oosthuizen (12)
-6: Dunne -a- (F), Goosen (F), Donald (F), Schwartzel (16), Matsuyama (15), Day (13)
7.46am BST
Play suspended indefinitely. “We should never even have started,” is Jordan Spieth’s trenchant critique, as he and his friend Dustin Johnson stand on the 16th tee shaking their heads. They leave the scene in high dudgeon. Incidentally the pair, along with Matsuyama, took two putts for their pars on 15. The weather forecast for later is good weather, and the winds are expected to drop. So there’s still hope that the third round will be completed today, though expect another late finish.
7.40am BST
But you can’t blame Day, not really. His playing partner Louis Oosthuizen stands over a three-foot putt, only for the ball to be blown a foot to the right, and a little closer to the hole. In the past, that would have counted as a shot, Oosthuizen having addressed the ball and grounded his putter. But wind moving the ball no longer counts; the player has to have effected the move himself for a shot to be counted. So that’s a great break. Until, that is, another gust of wind sends the ball four feet further from the hole! Seems the R&A did cut a couple of the greens, and this is one. That might not have been completely thought through. Anyway, to Oosthuizen’s great credit, he enjoys a laugh about his ill fortune with his playing partner Day, but he’s now faced with a tester for his par. That’ll have to wait, though, because play has been suspended, the conditions having shifted from testing to farcical.
7.32am BST
Lawrie hits an over-excitable wedge over the flag at 14 and to the back of the green. A long birdie attempt awaits. Spieth, Johnson and Matsuyama have all set themselves up for a half-decent look at birdie on 15, in the heart of the green in two, 20 feet from the flag. Matsuyama, incidentally, didn’t putt out on 14 this morning because he’d finished up on the hole last night, as was his right. He birdied it, too. So he’s -6 again, for both round and championship. Meanwhile Jason Day really isn’t enjoying these putting conditions. He looks highly agitated, and on 13 clatters a ludicrous long birdie effort ten feet past the hole. He addresses the par putt again and again, before pushing a tentative one to the right. Another bogey, and he’s back to -6.
7.25am BST
Lawrie’s hoicked his drive at 14 well left, and he’s in semi-rough running down the 5th, but he’s able to lash a fairway wood back up the correct fairway. Well short of the green, but he’d not have got there in two anyway, so that’s got things back on track. These winds are something else, though with the deep yellow of the morning sun skimming off every other undulation across the links, St Andrews is an aesthete’s dappled delight.
7.19am BST
Spieth was also at the front of 14 in two big booms. He lags a putt up to six feet, then fails to hit the birdie effort. He lashes his putter through the air, miming a crashing drive of frustration. Hey, he’s 21, he can throw the toys out of the pram all he likes. It’s charming. On 13, Tiger drops his scorecard, and it goes flying off in the tempest. A broadcast technician - a guy with a big microphone - races after it, sticks his boot on it, and hands it back to a smiling Tiger. Smiling through gritted teeth, maybe. Did he actually want it back? To be fair, he’s just +1 for his round, but +5 overall. With the cut predicted at level par, he’ll be packing his bag when he gets back to the hotel.
7.15am BST
The leader Dustin Johnson hasn’t fully woken up yet. The winds are whipping across the Old Course, and he’s still to finish 14, at the front of the par-five’s green. So he takes out a lob wedge. It’s ballsy, you have to give him that. Then he fails to hit it. Chyip! The ball barely makes the playing surface. He then snoozes, failing to rush up to mark his ball. And it blows back down off the green! Get a wriggle on, big man! He takes the putter out and leaves it 12 feet short. He’ll have that for par. Nope. A total mess from the front of the green. You’d normally say the only way is up, but in these winds there are also several versions of sideways, and in the context of the scoreboard, down.
-9: Willett (F), D Johnson (14)
-8: Lawrie (13)
7.09am BST
It looks as though the greenkeeping staff have left the greens well alone, and not run their mowers over the putting surfaces. In this wind, every little helps. But that doesn’t stop Jason Day dribbling the par putt on 12 he’s thought about all night past the hole. A most miserable start to his day; he’s back to -7. Better news for Paul Lawrie, who trundles a 30-foot birdie effort on 13 stone dead, and he’ll be tapping in for a par that keeps him keepin’ on at -8. Back on 12, Oosthuizen steps away from his ball a couple of times in the breeze, before finally clacking putter face on manufacturer’s logo. The dappled white thing disappears into the cup from six feet, and he remains at -7.
7.04am BST
♬ Good morning, good morning! We’ve considered the delayed completion of the second round the whole night through! Good morning, good morning to you! (Nothing could be finer than to be on the Fife coast in the morning, in the morning ... ♪ So here we are again, happy as can be. All good pals and jolly good company. It’s a beautiful morning at St Andrews. Apart from the 30mph wind, that is. The R&A have ruled that the course is nevertheless playable, so the players are back out by their markers, assuming they haven’t been whipped into the briny. (Markers or players, take your pick.) They’re ready to go. And they’re off!
6.00am BST
Only nine hours will have passed between the end of play last night and the resumption of the delayed second round this morning. So let’s not prattle on. You’ve all got good memories. But in any case, normal preambulatory business would be a waste of your time. All’s up in the air until we know how this second round ends. And some of the top players have still to put in a second card, including the leader Dustin Johnson, the Ben Hogan hunting Jordan Spieth, former Open champions Louis Oosthuizen and Paul Lawrie, and the perennial major bridesmaid Jason Day. So let’s just get going. Our coverage will begin at 7am BST! The winds will be up! It’s on!
-10: D Johnson (13)
-9: Willett (F)
-8: Lawrie (12), Day (11)
-7: Warren (F), Z Johnson (F), Scott (F), Streb (F), Oosthuizen (11)
-6: Dunne -a- (F), Goosen (F), Donald (F), Schwartzel (15), Matsuyama (14)
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