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The Open Championship 2016 - Day 2 Report

By: Golfshake Editor | Fri 15 Jul 2016


Post by Sports Writer Josh Carr

Phil Mickelson remained atop the leaderboard at the end of day two of the Open Championship at Royal Troon after a two under par 69 in testing conditions.

After a three under par front nine, with birdies on 4, 7 and 8, it looked like Mickelson was going to blow away the field once again. However, the American would go on to make his first bogey in 30 holes on the 12th hole. His birdie on the 14th hole was short lived as he gave one back immediately on the 15th hole. Nonetheless, this was a positive round for Mickelson who is looking to pick up his second Open Championship.

Mickelson told the Golf Channel: "The conditions made it tough. With the rain as well as the wind. It made it more difficult. I enjoy coming over and facing that challenge.

"I know that when I go to Augusta knowing I've already won there and I'm in that champions group, it takes a little bit of the pressure off. This challenge of winning the Open here was the greatest challenge of my career, and I've already done it. That takes a lot of the pressure off. It would be great to add to it. I would love nothing more than to add another one."

The American’s nearest competitor is Sweden’s Henrik Stenson who is just one-shot further back at 9 under, after an outstanding six under par 65 in the wind and the rain.

Henrik Stenson

The Swede got off to a flying start as he made four birdies in five holes between holes 3 to 7, with three in a row on holes 3, 4 and 5. Despite bogeying the 9th hole, Stenson bounced back with birdies at 10, 13 and 16 to card a six under par round.

Stenson said: “I haven’t been in contention for the last six majors, and I just wanted to turn things around. I’m not going to play these tournaments forever and ever. I don’t have another 50 goes at them. It might be a dozen, or 15, in total. So it’s certainly time to get going.”

The Swede also had a lighthearted dig at the man he will be chasing tomorrow when he said: “It’s always harder to push the first one over the line, I would imagine, than the fifth one. But at the same time he’s six years older than me. So I should be a little stronger, shouldn’t I?”

The next nearest competitors sit at 7 under in Denmark’s Soren Kjeldsen and America’s Keegan Bradley after both shot three under par 68’s in the better of the morning conditions. The Dane had the steadier of the rounds as he did not card a single bogey and hit 72% of greens.

Bradley, who has been short on confidence of late, is hotly tipped to make a move on Saturday as in today’s round he hit 79% of fairways and had a green in regulation percentage of 83%. If the putts start to drop, we could see the American near the final pairing come Sunday.

Conditions worsened as the day went on with the wind gusting and the rain starting to pour, which made it almost impossible for the afternoon players to shoot low. 50 players began the day under par but only 27 managed to stay there, which showed just how tough Troon was playing.

Rickie Fowler battled hard to be one of the 27 players who remained under par, as he shot a one over par round in the toughest of conditions to finish at 1 under after day 2. Rory McIlroy managed a level par round in the group behind that saw him finish at 2 under heading into the weekend.

McIlroy was playing alongside Bubba Watson who birdied the final hole to just sneak within the cut line.

Justin Rose and Jordan Spieth had days to forget on the Royal Troon links. Rose shot a birdie-less six over par 77 to fall down to 3 over for the tournament. World number 3 Spieth only just made the cut after a four over par 75, to finish at 4 over for the two days.

The tough conditions meant the day ended with the cut at 4 over which meant as well as Watson, 2016 Masters Champion Danny Willett heads into the weekend along with Colin Montgomerie.

Notable absences from the weekend include 2 time Open Champion Ernie Els finishing at 5 over, Shane Lowry at 7 over, and Matt Fitzpatrick at 11 under.


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Tags: The Open 2016 open



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