Jason Day – walks to the 17th green today – image R&A via Getty Images
Jason Day’s equal best round of the day of 68 on day two of the Open Championship has moved the 36-year-old from his overnight 44th to a share of 7th at the halfway stage at Royal Troon.
Day is now just six shots from the 36-hole leader and only four shots out of second place as the event entered the weekend on the Ayrshire coast of Scotland.
Day played early on day two and after birdies at the 2nd and 3rd holes he would not drop a shot all day in the increasing winds and added a birdie at the 13th to eventually finish with 3 under for the day and 1 under for the championship.
Day acknowledged the kinder conditions early on day two where the stronger gusty winds did not develop until mid-way through his round.
“Sometimes when you know you’re going to get tough conditions, even-par is a good score, but we got lucky with the draw, I feel like,” said Day who is playing in his 12th Open Championship.
“It was tough conditions yesterday, but this morning it sat down for us — it was still a little bit windy out there, but it sat down for us through 12 holes, kind of.
“It’s difficult because even though it’s tough and it’s in off the right, the first kind of six, seven holes, you’ve still got a lot of opportunities if you kind of get yourself far enough down there.
“The hard thing is like do you want to take the gamble and push it up? Like on 1, 2, 3, for instance, like I hit a 3-wood on 3, and that was when the wind was probably half what it is right now. I was only a couple paces from the water’s edge. So I ended up taking advantage of that, which was nice, and birdieing that, which was good.
“Once you start making that turn, like starting 9, 10, 11, 12, that stretch there, that’s when you have to hold on a little bit.”
Day’s best finish to date at The Open was when runner-up to Brian Harman last year, albeit six shots behind the winner but he was also 4th at St Andrews in 2015 just one shot behind the playoff so he has some history in the event although not at the level he has enjoyed in the other three majors.
Day is now five shots clear as the leading Australasian, Ryan Fox adding a second consecutive 73 to be at 4 over and in 38th place, while New Zealand’s Daniel Hillier and Australian Adam Scott are at 5 over and the only others from our part of the world to make the weekend.
Min Woo Lee who opened with a very respectable round of 71 yesterday could only manage a round of 80 today and is out of the event as are New Zealand’s Kazuma Kobori who missed by just one after dropping six shots in four holes late in his round before a birdie at the last, Michael Hendry, Jasper Stubbs and the surprise of them all, Cam Smith who finished the event in last place amongst the Australians at 12 over par.
But the day belonged to 2019 champion Shane Lowry who bounced back from a horror and adventurous double bogey at his 11th hole when distracted by a cameraman to birdie the 16th and 17th to lead by two over first-round leader Daniel Brown and a resurgent Justin Rose who played his first Open Championship in 1998 and finished 4th as a 17-year-old amateur and has played 20 since, bettering his debut performance only once.
There are another three shots back to the ever-present Scottie Scheffler, Dean Burmester and Billy Horschel.
Lowry was understandably very satisfied with his day’s work.
“Yeah, it was good. I felt like I went out there, I was in control of my ball, did all the right things for a lot of the round. Then when I got in a bit of trouble, I feel like I really finished the round well.
“I’m pretty happy with the day. To be leading this tournament after two days, is why you come here, it’s why we’re here.
“Yeah, I’ll sit back and watch a bit of golf in the afternoon and see where it leaves me come the end of the day, and get out there tomorrow. The job tomorrow as well is to try to put myself in a position to win this tournament on Sunday, and that’s what I’ll try and do.”
When asked the reason for his level of comfort with links courses Lowry responded;
“Sometimes you do, sometimes you don’t (feel comfortable). I get to conditions like this, and I know I can do it, I know I can deal with that. There’s an art or there’s a — you know, it’s quite difficult to stand up there from 190 yards and make yourself hit a 4-iron as low as you can. It’s quite difficult to tell yourself that.
“I feel like the three weeks I’ve had at home, the golf I’ve played in Ireland, coming here and doing my reccy here a few weeks ago, I feel like that’s all helped.
Yes, I have felt quite calm and composed the last couple of days. I’ve felt really in my comfort zone. Yeah, I’m pretty happy with how things have gone.”
The cut fell at 6 over par with 80 players advancing to round three.
