Louis Oosthuizen set a 36-hole record at the British Open as Aussies Marc Leishman and Jason Day struggled.<\/p>\n
On a day of pleasant summer weather that took the fear out of the links off Sandwich Bay, Oosthuizen broke away from a three-way tie with a birdie-birdie-eagle run from the 12th hole. He shrugged off his first bogey of the week for a 5-under 65 and a two-stroke lead on Friday.<\/p>\n
Former PGA champion Collin Morikawa had a 64 in the morning and was two shots behind. Another shot back was Jordan Spieth (67), going after his fourth major.<\/p>\n
Lurking was two-time major champion Dustin Johnson, the No. 1 player in the world who shot 65 and was tied for fourth, four strokes behind Oosthuizen.<\/p>\n
"The game is good, but I know it's a really good leaderboard," Oosthuizen said. "I'll have to play good golf this weekend if I want to come out first."<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Aussie Marc Leishman had a frustrating day when he snapped his putter with his bare hands before then going on to make three birdies all while putting with a wedge.<\/p>\n
Leishman looked like he was destined to miss the cut but his round improved exponentially after he was forced to start using a wedge to putt for the rest of his round and he ended up 'blading' home his three longest birdies of the week.<\/p>\n
The Victorian's three-under par 67 was a vast improvement on his opening round 75 when he was statistically the worst putter in the field. the poorest putting statistics in the field but at two-over he was still likely to miss the projected one-over cut.<\/p>\n
Leishman finished two over but fellow Aussie Jason Day followed up his opening round of 75 with a level-par 70, missing the cut.<\/p>\n
"I played the first three-over par [in the two rounds] and played the ninth three-over par as well," Day said, highlighting the holes that cost him a place with the cut, which is estimated to be level par or one-over.<\/p>\n
"I'm trying to get back to No.1. I've been saying that for a while now, but the work I've been putting in hasn't yielded a lot of results yet. I believe it in my heart. The last two or three seasons of not playing humbles you a lot. I know that my game is good enough to be No.1."<\/p>\n
https:\/\/twitter.com\/adampeacock3\/status\/1416002860181901323?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/a><\/p>\n Oosthuizen, looking as calm as the conditions, was at 11-under 129, breaking the 36-hole Open record first set by Nick Faldo in 1992 at Muirfield and matched by Brandt Snedeker in 2012 at Royal Lytham & St. Annes.<\/p>\n This will be the fifth time in the last nine rounds at a major that Oosthuizen, the 2010 Open champion at St. Andrews, has had at least a share of the lead. He was runner-up at the last two majors, to Phil Mickelson at the the PGA Championship in May and to Jon Rahm the U.S. Open last month.<\/p>\n "I'm not really going to think about the second spots," said Oosthuizen, when asked what he'll do differently this time. "I know my game is in a good place."<\/p>\n He'll also be aware of the quality of player behind him, though.<\/p>\n Morikawa, making quite a debut in links golf, made seven birdies in his first 14 holes as part of a clinic in iron play. He missed a 5-foot par putt on No. 15 \u2014 ending a 27-hole stretch without a bogey \u2014 and had a 10-foot birdie putt on the final hole catch the lip.<\/p>\n Spieth, four shots behind Morikawa when he teed off, was tied for the lead after 12 holes and then played the last six holes in 1 over, a stretch he described as "frustrating." He had plenty of looks at birdie, but the putts didn't drop like they did on Thursday.<\/p>\n "I don't know, I think I need to bring more food on the golf course tomorrow," said Spieth, who has already lifted the claret jug before at Royal Birkdale in 2017. "I got really just in a weird head space, like fatigued there on like the 13th green as we were waiting and hitting putts."<\/p>\n Then there was Johnson, a runner-up at Royal St. George's in 2011, who stuck his approach at the last to 3 feet for a birdie and a round of 65, which left him at 7 under with Dylan Frittelli of South Africa (67) and Scottie Scheffler (66).<\/p>\n The weather is expected to stay benign over the weekend, potentially favoring Johnson if the fairways firm up and the ball runs longer and faster.<\/p>\n "I feel like I'm in a good position heading into the weekend," he said.<\/p>\n One shot behind an eclectic mix of players at 6 under \u2014 including two more South Africans in Justin Harding and Daniel Van Tonder as well as Germany's Marcel Siem, who qualified from a second-tier Challenge Tour event last week \u2014 were Rahm (64) and Brooks Koepka.<\/p>\n Koepka, a four-time major winner and seemingly always in contention at golf's biggest events, made four birdies in his last five holes for a 66, then continued his petty feud with Bryson DeChambeau with perhaps the best shot of his round.<\/p>\n During a television interview, Koepka said he was driving it great, adding: "I love my driver" \u2014 a clear nod at DeChambeau, who complained on Thursday that his driver "sucks."<\/p>\n DeChambeau doesn't look like being a factor this weekend at Royal St. George's but he's sticking around after shooting a 70, which saw him make the cut on the number at 1 over.<\/p>\n Rory McIlroy will be, too, needing a birdie on the final hole for another 70. He was 11 shots behind and set to stay on four majors until 2022.<\/p>\n "That's sort of been the way for the last couple months," McIlroy said. "It's felt close, but it just hasn't quite been close enough."<\/p>\n Other big names weren't so lucky: No. 7 Patrick Cantlay, No. 9 Patrick Reed and former Open champions Francesco Molinari and Henrik Stenson were among those headed home.<\/p>\n A sign of the favorable weather that has confronted the world's best players this week \u2014 there was barely a drop of wind at times on Friday \u2014 is the fact the cut was at 1-over 141. The previous lowest cut at Royal St. George's was 143.<\/p>\n For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0clicking here!<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n