Nightshift Sports:
The second round of the British Open was nothing like the first–except for the name at the top of the leaderboard. As predicted, blustery weather, big winds and rain blanketed the course at Royal Birkdale. It was definitely not a day for scoring; the key was making it a day of survival.
When the day was done, Jordan Spieth was the leader, at 6 under par, followed by Matt Kuchar, at 4 under. Ian Poulter–continuing a rather remarkable run of good play that started in the Scottish Open, was at 3 under as was one of yesterday’s Round 1 leaders, Brooks Koepka. For the full leaderboard, photos, and analysis of the day, use our direct link to the Official 2017 British Open website.
One of the unusual stories of the day was Sergio Garcia (2017 Master’s Champion) and his unnerving encounter with a gorse bush. Garcia swung at it with a club in frustration. The resulting encounter did not go well…for Garcia, who suffered a sore shoulder. Sergio finished the day two shots over for the tournament.
Friday is always moving day in golf, and among the notables who moved on–not making the cut to play the weekend–were Phil Mickelson, who waged a terrific battle with eventual winner Henrik Stenson in 2016, Ryder Cup standout Patrick Reed, Bryson DeChambeau, Padraig Harrington, and Justin Thomas. Mickelson was the real shock as he’s not missed a cut all season. Where’s Bones?
Round 3 is up tomorrow. Get up early in the morning, while the house is still cool from a full night of air conditioning, make some coffee, turn on the flat screen (and the big audio system) and settle in for an early morning of classic links golf from the 146th British Open. It’ll be great.
The Fine Print: Image embed courtesy of our friends at Getty Images, who have the photographic history of the 20th and 21st century on file. This image has not been altered in any way. We thank them for sharing.