Marc Leishman last Australasian standing at Royal Portrush
Marc Leishman in action this week – image Tom Shaw R&A / Getty Images
The eleven-strong Australasian contingent at this week’s Open Championship at Royal Portrush has been reduced to just one as the event heads into the weekend.
Victorian Marc Leishman added an impressive second round of 68 on Friday to finish his opening 36 holes at 1 under par and in a share of 26th place, but for the other ten players from our part of the world, it has been a week of mixed fortunes.
“Everything felt pretty good,” said Leishman after his round. “I putted well. Probably left a couple out there. I had a three-putt on 5, but that was a really tough pin. Drove it well, didn’t hit any fairway bunkers today, which was good. That’s what killed me yesterday.
“No, happy with how everything was feeling. Obviously, that little mishap on 13 there. It’s a bit scary when that happens. Two-hole stretch that didn’t sort of do a whole lot wrong apart from that tee shot on 13. Happy with the day.”
Leishman shanked his tee shot at the 13th, which led to a bogey and followed up with another dropped shot at the next.
“I was certainly thinking about it when I was trying to cut up an 8-iron into the last, exactly the same shot I hit on 13. Yeah, obviously you try to block it out of your head, but they do say the hardest shot in golf is the one after a shank. I felt like every shot coming in was that shot.”
“It was tough, but you’ve got to laugh about it and hope it doesn’t happen again for a while.”
New Zealand’s Daniel Hillier opened with an encouraging round of even par 71, but today, despite an early morning tee time, he could only record round of 73 to miss the cut by one, made even more frustrating by dropping shots at his 16th and 18th holes.
Jason Day and Ryan Fox also missed by one, Fox’s second round of 68 a big improvement on his opening 75 but falling just short of the required number he needed to make any further progress in the tournament.
Day added a round of even par 71 to his opening 73, but the damage from his opening nine of 39 on Thursday morning could not be repaired and he misses just his third cut in 13 starts in the event.
Elvis Smylie did his best in trying to make the weekend when he birdied two of his last three holes to record a round of 71 but it, too, fell just short, in his case by two shots.
Lucas Herbert would miss by three, Minwoo Lee by four, Curtis Luck, Cam Smith and Ryan Peake by seven, and Adam Scott by eight after his horror round of 79.
The leader at the halfway mark is none other than the world number one, Scottie Scheffler, who gave a clinic during his stunning round of 64 to take a one-shot lead over a resurgent Matthew Fitzpatrick, who produced the second-best round of the day and the week with his 6-under 65.
Scheffler appears on the brink of a 4th major title and what would be the third of the four needed to make up the Grand Slam. Admittedly, a win is no lay down misère at this stage, but his great consistency and his growing understanding of playing golf of this nature and in these conditions, has him as the man to beat over the next 36 holes.
“When we were teeing off, depending on what weather forecast you looked at, it was going to tell you something different,” said Scheffler. “It was super sunny when we were on the driving range, I’m out there in short sleeves, it’s warm out. Then we get to the 1st hole, it’s still sunny. Then all of a sudden, you look around and it’s super dark and it starts pouring rain. You’re like, boy, I wonder how long this is going to last.
“Fortunately, it didn’t pour the whole time. We only had maybe four or five holes where it was really coming down, and I was able to take advantage of the holes where we had some good weather.”
Scheffler is looking to become only the second player to win The Open when being world number one (the last was Tiger Woods in 2000, 2005, and 2006).
