The 2015 British Open

The last man in under the cut line!

 

If this happened at a U.S. Open or PGA Championship, would the players be bitching about course selection? Or is weather beyond even their diva-ness?

 

I always thought the old Scottish saying was: "If there's nae wind and nae rain, it's nae golf."

 

What in the wide, wide world of sports is a-goin' on at St. Andrews today?

I happened to get up early today and figured I'd make a quick check of the leaderboard to see if anyone from the back of the field had made a big run. Turns out, everyone had.

The scores are insane. There are red numbers everywhere. David Duval (!) shot 5-under 67. An amateur named Ashley Chesters played the front nine in 5 under. Someone named Eddie Pepperell birdied five of the first six holes and was 6 under through 10 to get to 8 under for the tournament. And Marc Leishman is 8 under through 15, which for the moment puts him only one shot out of the lead at minus-9.

This is one of the more bizarre major tournaments I've ever seen. The Old Course has been either totally unplayable or it's your neighborhood pitch-and-putt.

 

Spieth is paired with Sergio. They just teed off. Odd that Sunday is moving day, isn't it?

 

Spieth opens birdie-par. He looks poised to make a run up the leaderboard on the front nine. Weather looks civilized for now and the greens are slow.

Watch out for Fowler too.

 

Harrington is 6 under through 12, 9 under for the tournament. The way it's going, if you don't shoot 67 or better today, you're falling behind.

 

Three consecutive birdies to open the back nine, and just like that, Jordan Spieth is tied for the lead.

 

And an amateur joins the fray. Jordan Niebrugge birdies 14 to go 5 under for the day and is now minus-9 -- one shot behind the big logjam of leaders.

Edit: No sooner did I post that than Irish amateur Paul Dunne birdied nine to tie for the lead. Went out in 4 under.

 

So far, the only player not able to score today is the one who started the day in the lead.

It's become pretty clear that 67 is the new par today.

 

It's amateur hour at the Open. Paul Dunne's birdie at 15 gives him the outright lead at 12 under. He's 6 under for the day. According to the Open website's stats, he had 19 putts through 15 holes.

Edit: That putting stat was apparently not correct, since the site now shows him with 24 putts through 16. And no, he didn't five-putt the 16th, since he made par there.

 

It's like watching the PGA Championship. But after today, I'd bet scores will be tough to come by tomorrow. What's the forecast?