Willett leads Open as storm eases
Print Edition
DANNY Willett took up the challenge of giving England a first British Open champion in 23 years at St Andrews, Scotland, yesterday shooting a 3-under 69 in the second round.
The 27-year-old from Sheffield, who has steadily risen to 39th in the world this year, moved to the fore when better-known countrymen Justin Rose, Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood and Luke Donald were all absent from the top of the leaderboard.
He had five birdies against two bogeys and, at 9-under-par for the tournament, he was the clubhouse leader by two and the man to match for everyone else.
The last English winner of the Open was Nick Faldo in 1992 at Muirfield.
Willett’s charge came after the weather gods had played havoc with the Open schedule, causing a 3-hour, 14-minute delay and spilling over the second round to this morning.
The storm that had been forecast to sweep in from the North Sea arrived on time just as the first group of players reached the first green and they rushed for cover. Groundsmen worked feverishly to soak up the many puddles of standing water that made it look, at one stage, like play could even be abandoned for the day.
“It was like D-Day,” said South African Thomas Aiken, one of the first players to go out before the suspension.
“When we got out on the range, it was like, are you serious? Are we really going out in this?
“The putting green was flooded by the time we got to the first tee.”
But the Old Course with its sandy, links base remarkably quickly drunk up the deluge and play somehow got back under way at 10am (local time).
Big-hitting American Dustin Johnson had the first-round lead after an opening 7-under 65, but his afternoon tee-time was pushed back to 5:48pm in the company of history-maker Jordan Spieth and they were unlikely to complete their rounds before nightfall.
Spieth, seeking to add the British Open crown to the Masters and US Open titles he has already won this year, started with a 67.
Willett, a former world amateur No. 1, was one of six players who were grouped on one shot off the lead at the start of the day.
Home hope Marc Warren and 2007 Masters champion Zach Johnson stayed with him until they were tied at 7 under, but the Sheffield player added birdies at 9 and 10 to move three strokes clear of the field.
His only stumbles of the day came at the 15th and the tough 17th, but he birdied the last to come in with a 69 to go with his fine opening 66.
Warren had already signed for a 69 and is 7 under, the same as Zach Johnson who carded a 71.
India’s Anirban Lahiri, meanwhile, eased out to 5 under after a round of 70.
The 28-year-old from Pune has won twice this year already on the European Tour and he is aiming to beat the best-ever performance by an Indian golfer at the Open — Jyoti Randhawa’s tie for 27th position in 2004 at Royal Troon.
The biggest mover of the morning, however, was Australian former world No. 1 Adam Scott who was at 6 under after 13 holes of his second round.
Tiger Woods was due out 22 minutes after Johnson and Spieth set out, and he was badly in need of a round in the mid- to low-sixties just to stand a chance of making the cut after struggling to a 76 on Thursday.
If the 39-year-old American fails to do so it would be the first time in his career that he had missed back-to-back cuts in the majors, following his horror show at last month’s US Open.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
