Only 14 minutes have been in the field of play the few players who have gone out to the field today, as heavy rains have flooded it and have forced to suspend the second round of the British Open. The bad weather conditions already began to be felt yesterday afternoon, when the strong winds showed their effects on the players’ scorecards.
On the opening day, Americans Dustin Johnson and Jordan Spieth resumed in St Andrews the rivalry that confronted them last month at the US Open.As in Chambers Bay, Johnson started leading the tournament with a 65 (this time -7). Spieth delivered a 67(-5) to get within two strokes and clear any doubts about his preparation for the third major of the season.
Thursday dawned calm and the Old Course was undefended until the wind began to pick up in the afternoon. Six players are one stroke behind the leader: Paul Lawrie, Danny Willett, Jason Day, Retief Goosen, Zach Johnson and Robert Streb with 66(-6).
Tied with Spieth at -5 are Louis Oosthuizen, Kevin Na, Charl Schwartzel and amateur Jordan Niebrugge.
But the protagonists of the day were playing together in the 17th match, with Spieth going for the third leg of an unprecedented grand slam and Johnson still knocking on the door of his first major.
The No. 2 and No. 4 in the world were neck and neck for the front 9, with scores of 31. They finished the 12th tied at -6.
Johnson reached -7 with a birdie on 14, while Spieth fell back with a bogey on 13 and another on 17 from the bunker on the fairway. He ended up holing a very gnarly birdie from 20 feet on the 18th.
Spieth aspires to follow in the footsteps of Ben Hogan and Tiger Woods by winning three majors in the same season, but he knows it won’t be easy:
“If DJ keeps driving like this I’m going to have to bring my A-game to have any chance.
“It’s hard to argue with someone who goes dodging bunkers 350 yards and making birdies with two pats in five or six holes around the turn. I don’t have that weapon but I’ve played with him enough to know I have others.”When he tees off I know he’s going to put it in the fairway a long way. When I tee off I always expect to make birdie… but we do it in different ways.
On the 72nd hole at Chambers Bay the two took the same path to the green but Spieth birdied and Johnson made three putts from 3.6 m to lose by one. On Monday Johnson assured that Chambers Bay had not left him with any after-effects, and he proved it by signing this Thursday a flawless card with five birdies and an eagle.
“Nothing bad happened at Chambers Bay, so I didn’t have too much of a disappointment. I did everything I had to do, but I couldn’t control what the ball was doing on those greens.”It left me with nothing but good feelings because I played really well, and I followed that up today. A 65 always leaves you happy, but the best thing was the two par putts I made on the 16th and 17th.”
The highest-ranked Spaniard at St Andrews on Thursday is Sergio Garcia in 24th place at -2.
Rafa Cabrera-Bello had a great start with five birdies in the first seven, but the wind complicated things for the second round. He finished with four bogeys in the last six and is in 18th place with -1.
Up from par are Miguel Ángel Jiménez (+3) and Pablo Larrazábal (+4).
Tiger Woods again disappointed and finished his round at +4, ranked 139th.
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