Zach Johnson, Kevin Kisner lead British Open as ‘Car-nasty’ bites
A light rain in the morning that gave way to soft sunlight in the afternoon took some of the sting out of Carnoustie.
Just not all of it.
Kevin Kisner found that out with one swing that erased his two-shot lead on Friday in the British Open and left him tied with housemate Zach Johnson.
He hit an 8-iron that only needed to go 137 metres to clear the Barry Burn in front of the 18th green.
Instead, it floated out of the yellow grass to the right, bounced off the base of the rock wall that frames the winding stream and led to a double bogey.
Disappointed but not down, Kisner removed his cap behind the green and scratched his head as if he wondered what hit him.
"They call it 'Car-nasty' for a reason," he said after signing for his 1-under 70. "Even when you think you've got it, it will jump up and bite you."
It took a chunk out of Dustin Johnson and Justin Thomas, the number one and two players in the world who won't be around for the weekend.
Johnson finished with a double bogey to miss the cut by one. Thomas made three straight double bogeys on the front nine and missed by one.
And it left a wide-open weekend on a course with a history of crazy finishes.
Zach Johnson, whose name is already on the claret jug from his playoff victory at St Andrews three years ago, played in the morning under an umbrella and finished with a 30-foot birdie putt for a 67.
Home for the weekend — big names miss the cut
- Justin Thomas (US) – 4-over 146
- Sergio Garcia (SPA) – 4-over 146
- Hideki Matsuyama (JAP) – 4-over 146
- Jon Rahm (SPA) – 5-over 147
- Dustin Johnson (US) – 6-over 148
- Rickie Fowler (US) – 6-over 148
Johnson and Kisner are staying in a house of seven players — five of them major champions — and share the lead at 6-under 136.
They played on different ends of a day that started grey and ended with shadows. Scotland's unusually dry summer finally got a reprieve.
There wasn't enough rain to turn brown fairways green, though it at least kept shots from rolling endlessly.
They head into a weekend with endless possibilities.
One shot behind were Tommy Fleetwood (65), Pat Perez (68) and Xander Schauffele (66). Perez was tied for the lead until he hit into a bunker on the 18th hole and took bogey.
Rory McIlroy, pledging to "go down swinging" to rid himself of a bad Masters memory this year, had another 69 and was part of a large group two shots behind.
Jordan Spieth is also in the mix in his bid to take the claret jug back home to Texas. Spieth hit an 8-iron through a gap in the trees for a birdie-birdie start to the back nine, and he dropped only one shot — not four like he did on day one — over the four closing holes at Carnoustie for a 67.
He goes into the weekend just three shots back. "[I'm] very happy to be back in the tournament," Spieth said.
Scott, Day still in Open hunt
Australia's weather-weary golfer stars are close enough if good enough to bring back the Claret Jug after surviving two soul-searching rounds to remain in British Open contention.
In a cruel stroke of misfortune, all eight Australians at Carnoustie copped the worst of the Open's notoriously fickle weather conditions in the first two rounds as Americans Spieth, Rickie Fowler and Matt Kuchar cashed in on golden sunshine to soar up the leaderboard on day two.
Despite their wretched luck, seven Australians made the halfway cut, led by major winners Adam Scott and Jason Day and fearless rookies Lucas Herbert and Cameron Davis, to give themselves a fighting chance of Open glory.
Aussies at the Open
- Adam Scott – 1-under 141
- Jason Day – level par 142
- Lucas Herbert – level par 142
- Cameron Davis – 1-over 143
- Marc Leishman – 2-over 144
- Cameron Smith – 2-over 144
- Brett Rumford – 2-over 144
- Matt Jones – 9-over 151
Scott is Australia's only player in red numbers after grinding out a 1-under-par 70 to be 1-under for the championship and five shots behind second-round joint leaders Kisner and Johnson.
"Hopefully I've got my best stuff on the weekend," the 2012 Open runner-up and 2013 Masters champion said.
"I'm going to have to have a really good round — that five-under round, ideally tomorrow — to get myself somehow into this tournament.
"I've played a lot of good rounds of golf in majors over the weekend, particularly at Augusta but at the Open as well, and I'm very clear with what I need to do.
"My game is good enough to do it. It's just a matter of doing it."
Day lamented finishing bogey, bogey, bogey for a 71 to be even par and six shots back, having been only two off the lead late in his round in driving rain.
"It was miserable out there. It didn't stop raining the whole time," a drenched Day said.
"It was just tough because by the end of it everything was wet. My whole bag's wet, my clubs are wet.
"So it was a tough finish. I wish I could have taken the last four holes back, but it is what it is.
"Hopefully I can get some nice weather tomorrow. Even if it's windy, as long as it's not wet, I'll try and get myself back into it."
Herbert, 22 and making his Open debut, produced Australia's best round of the day, a 69, to join Day at level with the card and also still hopeful of making a charge.
"If I get a good round out there in the morning, who knows come Sunday," Herbert said.
Fellow Open debutant Cameron Davis is seven strokes behind after a second-round 72, while Marc Leishman (72), Cameron Smith (71) and Brett Rumford (70) are all eight shots off the pace.
AP/AAP
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