British Open:Rory McIlroy's dream of becoming the youngest Open champion for 117 years turned into a nightmare with an 80 at windswept St Andrews today. Two ahead after his dazzling record-equalling 63 in the first round, the 21-year-old was blown away by gusts of up to 40mph.
After a 65-minute suspension in mid-afternoon because balls were moving on the greens, McIlroy went back out in conditions he considered even worse, four-putted the 11th and by the time he finished just before 9pm he was an incredible 11 shots behind Louis Oosthuizen.
The South African, who had teed off in the second group of the day at 6.41am, added a 67 to his opening 65 and when play was called off again because of darkness he was five clear.
Oosthuizen, who had missed the cut in seven of his previous eight majors and finished last in the other, was on 12 under par and, in relation to par, that matched the tournament record for the first 36 holes.
And, in a clear indication of how things deteriorated, his closest challenger in the clubhouse was 50-year-old 1989 champion Mark Calcavecchia. He teed off at 6.30am.
McIlroy, who spent most of the delay in play in a bus, managed to smile afterwards, but said: “It was just very, very difficult out there. I think all the guys were finding it tough this afternoon and I just let it get away from me a little bit.
“I actually did well to par the last three holes if I’m totally honest — it could have been an 82 or an 83. I’m here for the weekend, so it’s not all bad, but I don’t think they should have called us off the golf course.
“When we got back out there the conditions hadn’t changed, the wind probably got a little bit worse. It probably wasn’t a smart move.”
Paul Casey and Lee Westwood were other early starters and, by shooting 69 and 71 respectively — Casey even had a triple bogey at the 17th in that — they were next best on six under.
As for world number one Tiger Woods, winner at the course in 2000 and 2005, he made a better fist than McIlroy of staying in the hunt by turning in 36. But then came bogeys on the 13th and 15th to leave him three under and nine back.
Needless to say, Oosthuizen was delighted with a day’s work that had ended before he had any idea of how tough the conditions would become. “It’s probably the position anyone wants to be in,” said the man who won his first European Tour title in Spain in March and with it climbed into the world’s top 50 to qualify for The Masters.
“It’s what we work to achieve and I’m just very happy with the two rounds I put together. St Andrews is where it all started. I think it’s everyone’s dream to win the Open Championship, but to win it at St Andrews is just... you never really think it’ll happen.”
Six hours later Paul Lawrie, Britain’s last winner in 1999, was saying after an 82 that was his worst-ever score in the event: “I thought it was unplayable three or four holes before they stopped it.”
Playing partner Thomas Levet had an 81 and the player who was runner-up to Ernie Els at Muirfield in 2002 commented: “I don’t understand the pin placements at all. They are all on the top of slopes — if you want to stop the play that is where you put them. When we re-started it was the same strength wind, so why did we re-start?
“I also had a putt which moved half a metre back. I don’t understand why they put the tees on two and four at the back. The set-up of the course is totally wrong with that wind. Muirfield was brutal conditions, but it was playable around the greens.
“Here it was not playable around the pins. For six or seven holes in a row you have things that happen on that golf course that never happen anywhere else in the world. It becomes stupid.”
Graeme McDowell, winner of the US Open a month ago and almost inevitably another who teed off around breakfast time, was part of the group on five under after a seven-birdie 68.
But Masters winner Phil Mickelson improved only two shots on his opening 73 to be down on level par and Justin Rose, playing with Woods, was heading out at five over.
Completed second round scores
(Irl & Gbr unless stated,
Irishin bold, par 72)
132Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 65 67
137Mark Calcavecchia (USA) 70 67
138Paul Casey 69 69, Lee Westwood 67 71
139Peter Hanson (Swe) 66 73, Ricky Barnes (USA) 68 71, Retief Goosen (Rsa) 69 70, Graeme McDowell71 68, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 72 67, Tom Lehman (USA) 71 68
140Nick Watney (USA) 67 73, Robert Karlsson (Swe) 69 71, Martin Kaymer (Ger) 69 71, Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 69 71, Toru Taniguchi (Jpn) 70 70, Tiger Woods 67 73
141Dustin Johnson (USA) 69 72, Vijay Singh (Fij) 68 73, Shane Lowry68 73, Y.E. Yang (Kor) 67 74
142Adam Scott (Aus) 72 70, Jeff Overton (USA) 73 69, Sergio Garcia (Spa) 71 71, Marcel Siem (Ger) 67 75, Alvaro Quiros (Spa) 72 70, John Daly (USA) 66 76, Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 68 74, Bradley Dredge 66 76
143 Rory McIlroy63 80, Lucas Glover (USA) 67 76, Andrew Coltart 66 77, Simon Khan 74 69
144Phil Mickelson (USA) 73 71, Kevin Na (USA) 70 74, Thomas Aiken (Rsa) 71 73, Robert Allenby (Aus) 69 75, John Senden (Aus) 68 76, Marc Leishman (Aus) 73 71, Simon Dyson 69 75, Peter Senior (Aus) 73 71
145Steve Stricker (USA) 71 74, Colm Moriarty72 73, Colin Montgomerie 74 71, Heath Slocum (USA) 71 74, Hunter Mahan (USA) 69 76, Steve Marino (USA) 69 76, Luke Donald 73 72, Scott Verplank (USA) 72 73, Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 69 76
146Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 72 74, Hirofumi Miyase (Jpn) 71 75, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 71 75, Zach Johnson (USA) 72 74, Richard S Johnson (Swe) 73 73, Robert Rock 68 78, Rickie Fowler (USA) 79 67, Danny Chia (Mal) 69 77
147Thomas Bjorn (Den) 70 77, Oliver Wilson 68 79, Bubba Watson (USA) 74 73, Eric Chun (Kor) 71 76
148Seung-yul Noh (Kor) 72 76, Ben Crane (USA) 72 76, Ryuichi Oda (Jpn) 76 72, Gareth Maybin72 76, Rhys Davies 73 75, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Spa) 72 76, Ross McGowan 68 80
149D.A. Points (USA) 72 77, Todd Hamilton (USA) 72 77, Angel Cabrera (Arg) 73 76, Ben Curtis (USA) 76 73, Jason Bohn (USA) 75 74
150Koumei Oda (Jpn) 74 76, Geoff Ogilvy (Aus) 72 78, Hiroyuki Fujita (Jpn) 75 75, Justin Leonard (USA) 76 74, Jim Furyk (USA) 77 73, Paul Goydos (USA) 74 76, Bill Haas (USA) 73 77, K J Choi (Kor) 76 74
151Francesco Molinari (Ita) 74 77, Anders Hansen (Den) 77 74, Soren Hansen (Den) 72 79, Jean Hugo (Rsa) 76 75, Tim Petrovic (USA) 71 80, Paul Lawrie 69 82, Loren Roberts (USA) 73 78, Tim Clark (Rsa) 71 80, Sandy Lyle 75 76
152Paul Streeter 76 76, Shunsuke Sonoda (Jpn) 74 78, Josh Cunliffe (Rsa) 75 77, Kurt Barnes (Aus) 75 77, Darren Fichardt (Rsa) 74 78
153Katsumasa Miyamoto (Jpn) 77 76, Sir Nick Faldo 72 81, Alexander Noren (Swe) 73 80, Mathew Goggin (Aus) 74 79, Victor Dubuisson (Fra) 80 73
154Jerry Kelly (USA) 79 75, Ryan Moore (USA) 70 84, Thomas Levet (Fra) 73 81
155Tyrrell Hatton 78 77, George McNeill (USA) 78 77, Jason Dufner (USA) 73 82, Brian Gay (USA) 72 83, David Duval (USA) 77 78, Jae-bum Park (Kor) 76 79, Jose Manuel Lara (Spa) 80 75
156Gary Clark 79 77
157Martin Laird 74 83, Glen Day 78 79
160Laurie Canter 81 79
165Simon Edwards (USA) 79 86