The second round of the 146th Open is in the books, and two-time major champion Jordan Spieth (69) sits alone atop the leaderboard at Royal Birkdale.
The 23-year-old Spieth is at 6-under-par following a second consecutive sub-70 round.
Two back, and alone in second at 4-under, is Matt Kuchar, who posted a second-round 1-over 71. Englishman Ian Poulter and U.S. Open champion Brooks Koepka are tied for third at 3-under.
Scotland’s Richard Ramsey (70) rounds out the top 5 at 2-under.
Before we head into a weekend and round three, let’s take a look at some of the best and worst from day two at Birkdale.
Best Round
Zach Johnson bounced back from an opening-round 5-over 75 to post the round of the day, a 4-under 66. The 2015 Open Champion finished with five birdies and just one bogey.
Afterwards, Johnson commented, “Today was solid. I made a nice par on 1, and then after that I think I might have hit one errant shot, if you really want to try to pick it apart. Complete opposite of yesterday, clearly. I guess my saving grace last night was I can’t get any worse, one.”
Most Disappointing Round
Paul Casey and Charl Schwartzel both shot opening-round 4-under 66s, and many figured the two world-class golfers would be around come Sunday. But both flamed out, terribly, on Friday, with a 7-over 77, and 8-over 78, respectively.
Casey (now at +3) dropped 31 spots down the leaderboard (from T4 to T35), while the South African Schwartzel (+4) plummeted 41 places to T45.
Best Dressed
Hard to pick a player here when most were wearing rain gear or hiding behind umbrellas, so we’re going with Jim ‘Bones’ Mackay, who looked pretty spiffy in his new NBC Sports/Golf Channel attire, while walking the course carrying just a mic (and not a bag).
Best Comeback
Rory McIlory was 5-over at the turn in the opening round, and it looked like the World No. 4 was on his way to missed-cut No. 3. (in a row).
But since then, over the next 27 holes, McIlroy has gone 6-under, and incredibly sits at 1-under, tied for sixth.
Unsung Stars
The caddies are always underappreciated – especially on rainy, windy days like today. Try lugging around a 40 pound bag about 5-6 miles, up and down hills, and then throw an umbrella into the mix – all while playing the role of coach/analyst/therapist.
Best Round By a No-Name
Richard Bland and Austin Connelly won the award yesterday, and the two are still hanging around at T6 (-1). But Scotland’s Richie Ramsay has overtaken the duo.
After an even-par 70, the 34-year-old Scott sits all alone in 5th place at 2-under.
Update: Apparently Ramsay is not a total no-name as he finished T2 at the Irish Open two weeks back, and I actually wrote his name in the lead-in. Go figure.
Most Popular Score
29 players in the field shot 2-over 72 on Friday. Twenty-two shot 3-over 73.
Least Popular Score
Only Zach Johnson shot 4-under 66.
Best Shot
Chris Wood holes out for eagle on 18 to end 36 holes at 3-over and make the cut.
What a way to finish! Eagle on 18 for @chris3wood to put himself inside the projected cut. #TheOpen pic.twitter.com/l4UDra0wjm
— The Open (@TheOpen) July 21, 2017
Stats
- Just Jordan: Jordan Spieth is the only player in the 156 golfer field who shot under-par both days.
- Nine-Under: Only nine players in the field are under-par after two rounds.
- Stat Leaders: Fairways hit (Mark Foster, Prayad Marksaeng: 20/28); Greens hit (Russell Henley: 26/36); Putts (Dustin Johnson, Robert Dinwiddie: 48)
- Toughest Hole: The par-4 13th hole played to a 4.705
- Easiest Hole: The par-5 15th: 4.609
- Bogey-free Rounds: No one in the 156 player field shot a bogey-free round.
Final Scores, Round One
POS | PLAYER | TO PAR |
---|---|---|
1 | Jordan Spieth | -6 |
2 | Matt Kuchar | -4 |
T3 | Ian Poulter | -3 |
T3 | Brooks Koepka | -3 |
5 | Richie Ramsay | -2 |
T6 | Austin Connelly | -1 |
T6 | Rory McIlroy | -1 |
T6 | Gary Woodland | -1 |
T6 | Richard Bland | -1 |
T10 | Jamie Lovemark | E |
T10 | Joost Luiten | E |
T10 | Charley Hoffman | E |
T10 | Bubba Watson | E |
T10 | Rafael Cabrera Bello | E |
T10 | Kent Bulle | E |
T10 | Alex Noren | E |
T10 | Russell Henley | E |
T10 | Hideki Matsuyama | E |
T10 | Chan Kim | E |
T20 | Ernie Els | 1 |
T20 | Zach Johnson | 1 |
T20 | Kevin Kisner | 1 |
T20 | Sung-hoon Kang | 1 |
T24 | Ross Fisher | 2 |
T24 | Sergio Garcia | 2 |
T24 | Rickie Fowler | 2 |
T24 | Thorbjorn Olesen | 2 |
T24 | Haotong Li | 2 |
T24 | Laurie Canter | 2 |
T24 | Soren Kjeldsen | 2 |
T24 | Steve Stricker | 2 |
T24 | Matthew Fitzpatrick | 2 |
T24 | Henrik Stenson | 2 |
T24 | Yi Keun Chang | 2 |
T35 | Andrew Johnston | 3 |
T35 | Paul Casey | 3 |
T35 | Adam Scott | 3 |
T35 | Dustin Johnson | 3 |
T35 | Jon Rahm | 3 |
T35 | Kevin Na | 3 |
T35 | Chris Wood | 3 |
T35 | Thongchai Jaidee | 3 |
T35 | J.B. Holmes | 3 |
T35 | Tony Finau | 3 |
T45 | Matthew Southgate | 4 |
T45 | Bernd Wiesberger | 4 |
T45 | Martin Kaymer | 4 |
T45 | Jimmy Walker | 4 |
T45 | Daniel Berger | 4 |
T45 | Charl Schwartzel | 4 |
T45 | Andrew Dodt | 4 |
T45 | Xander Schauffele | 4 |
T45 | Jason Dufner | 4 |
T45 | Branden Grace | 4 |
T45 | Kyung-tae Kim | 4 |
T45 | Peter Uihlein | 4 |
T45 | Alfie Plant | 4 |
T45 | Thomas Pieters | 4 |
T45 | James Hahn | 4 |
T45 | Joseph Dean | 4 |
T61 | Toby Tree | 5 |
T61 | Aaron Baddeley | 5 |
T61 | Jason Day | 5 |
T61 | Andy Sullivan | 5 |
T61 | David Drysdale | 5 |
T61 | Sean O'Hair | 5 |
T61 | Brandon Stone | 5 |
T61 | Lee Westwood | 5 |
T61 | Marc Leishman | 5 |
T61 | Scott Hend | 5 |
T61 | Danny Willett | 5 |
T61 | Young-han Song | 5 |
T61 | Michael Lorenzo-Vera | 5 |
T61 | Webb Simpson | 5 |
T61 | Justin Rose | 5 |
T61 | Tommy Fleetwood | 5 |
T61 | Shaun Norris | 5 |
- | David Lipsky | CUT |
- | Ryan Fox | CUT |
- | Pablo Larrazabal | CUT |
- | Roberto Castro | CUT |
- | Shiv Kapur | CUT |
- | Alexander Levy | CUT |
- | Anirban Lahiri | CUT |
- | Padraig Harrington | CUT |
- | Si Woo Kim | CUT |
- | Mark Foster | CUT |
- | Julian Suri | CUT |
- | Adam Bland | CUT |
- | Matthew Griffin | CUT |
- | Martin Laird | CUT |
- | Francesco Molinari | CUT |
- | Paul Waring | CUT |
- | Paul Broadhurst | CUT |
- | Russell Knox | CUT |
- | Fabrizio Zanotti | CUT |
- | Justin Thomas | CUT |
- | Robert Streb | CUT |
- | Brian Harman | CUT |
- | Kevin Chappell | CUT |
- | Patrick Reed | CUT |
- | Kyle Stanley | CUT |
- | Gi-Whan Kim | CUT |
- | Haydn McCullen | CUT |
- | Jbe' Kruger | CUT |
- | Ryan McCarthy | CUT |
- | Ryan Moore | CUT |
- | Tom Lehman | CUT |
- | Byeong Hun An | CUT |
- | Dylan Frittelli | CUT |
- | Darren Clarke | CUT |
- | Alexander Bjork | CUT |
- | Connor Syme | CUT |
- | William McGirt | CUT |
- | Bill Haas | CUT |
- | Cameron Smith | CUT |
- | Paul Lawrie | CUT |
- | Ashley Hall | CUT |
- | Stuart Manley | CUT |
- | Emiliano Grillo | CUT |
- | Charles Howell III | CUT |
- | Pat Perez | CUT |
- | Mike Hendry | CUT |
- | Yuta Ikeda | CUT |
- | Phil Mickelson | CUT |
- | Jeunghun Wang | CUT |
- | Stewart Cink | CUT |
- | Prayad Marksaeng | CUT |
- | David Horsey | CUT |
- | Shane Lowry | CUT |
- | Tyrrell Hatton | CUT |
- | Jhonattan Vegas | CUT |
- | Nick McCarthy | CUT |
- | Mark O'Meara | CUT |
- | David Duval | CUT |
- | Luca Cianchetti | CUT |
- | John Daly | CUT |
- | Callum Shinkwin | CUT |
- | Hideto Tanihara | CUT |
- | Yusaku Miyazato | CUT |
- | Maverick McNealy | CUT |
- | Darren Fichardt | CUT |
- | Billy Horschel | CUT |
- | Wesley Bryan | CUT |
- | Harry Ellis | CUT |
- | Louis Oosthuizen | CUT |
- | Matthieu Pavon | CUT |
- | Adam Hadwin | CUT |
- | Sebastian Munoz | CUT |
- | Sandy Lyle | CUT |
- | Bryson DeChambeau | CUT |
- | Brendan Steele | CUT |
- | Phachara Khongwatmai | CUT |
- | Robert Dinwiddie | CUT |
- | Adam Hodkinson | CUT |
- | Todd Hamilton | CUT |