AFTER much disruption the first two rounds of the 2015 British Open have finally been completed with Dustin Johnson leading by a stroke and Aussie’s Adam Scott and Jason Day just three strokes back tied fourth.
The second round of the iconic event at the St Andrews Old Course had all sorts of problems with rain then high winds causing long delays as the R & A organisers scrambled to get the tournament to advance.
The third round will now be played from Sunday evening Australian time (8pm – 5am Fox Sports Live coverage) and the final round pushed out to Monday evening/Tuesday morning.
There was much grumbling by players criticising the decision to start play early on the third day (still completing second round) with winds gusting around 50 mph and the course, they believed, unplayable. Balls began moving on the putting greens.
Play was suspended just 32 minutes later, but not before players, including Jason Day and Scott Hend had dropped shots. [See: Hend attacks R & A on GA website]
Johnson had opening rounds of 65-69 to go into the third round at 10-under with England’s Danny Willett putting on a fine display in the conditions (66-69) to be outright second on 9-under.
Scotland’s Paul Lawrie (66-70) was third on 8-under with Adam Scott (70-67) and Jason Day (66-71) tied fourth at 7-under along with Louis Oosthuizen, Robert Streb Zach Johnson and Marc Warren.
Steven Bowditch (70-69) Geoff Ogilvy (71-68) were on 5-under at T14 along with three-peat hopeful Jordan Spieth (67-72) and a number of others.
Tiger Woods (76-75) missed the cut as did five-time champion Tom Watson. In touching scenes, the 65 year old waved goodbye to the crowd during his final Open Championship from the Swilcan Bridge (pictured below).
British Open Leaderboard