Evading bunkers puts Brandt Snedeker in good stead
By Doug Ferguson July 20, 2012 11:16PM
LYTHAM ST ANNES, ENGLAND - JULY 20: Brandt Snedeker of the United States plays a shot from the rough on the 18th hole during the second round of the 141st Open Championship at Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club on July 20, 2012 in Lytham St Annes, England. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
SECOND ROUND
AT A GLANCE
The leaderboard
B. Snedeker 66-64—130 -10
Adam Scott 64-67—131 -9
Tiger Woods 67-67—134 -6
T. Olesen 69-66—135 -5
Paul Lawrie 65-71—136 -4
Matt Kuchar 69-67—136 -4
G. McDowell 67-69—136 -4
Jason Dufner 70-66—136 -4
T.Aiken 68-68—136 -4
Scores and tee times, Page 35
Missing the cut: Defending champion Darren Clarke and seven other former British Open winners. That included two players who won at Royal Lytham, David Duval in 2001 and Tom Lehman in 1996. Phil Mickelson also went home after a second-round 78.
Notable: Tiger Woods shot two rounds in the 60s to open a major for the eighth time. He won all previous seven.
Quotable: “I’m sure everybody in this room is in about as much shock as I am right now.” — Snedeker, in the media room talking about his lead
Key pairings: 9:10 a.m., Thorbjorn Olesen, Tiger Woods; 9:20 a.m., Brandt Snedeker, Adam Scott.
Television: 6 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., ESPN; 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.,
Ch. 7 (taped highlights).
Where’s Tiger? Tiger Woods is in third place, four shots back after back-to-back 67s.
Article Extras
Updated: August 22, 2012 6:16AM
LYTHAM ST. ANNES, England — Brandt Snedeker plays fast and talks even faster, and he was on a roll Friday in the British Open. He raced up the leaderboard with five birdies in a seven-hole stretch, tied the 36-hole record for a major championship and looked as if he was bent on running away from the field at Royal Lytham & St. Annes.
Not so fast.
Along came Adam Scott, playing cautiously and picking his spots for three birdies on the back nine to pull within one shot. Not far behind was Tiger Woods, sticking to a conservative game plan and delivering a dramatic finish by holing out from the bunker to set off a wild cheer from 6,000 spectators crammed into the bleachers.
As the second round ended, this Open was just getting started.
On another benign day when the only concern was pools forming in the bottom of pot bunkers from overnight rain, Snedeker became the latest player to match the course record at Royal Lytham with a 6-under 64 that gave him a one-shot lead.
He has yet to make a bogey over 36 holes, the first player to go bogey-free in the opening two rounds of a major since Woods won at St. Andrews in 2000. Snedeker’s 10-under 130 tied the 36-hole record set by Nick Faldo in 1992 when he won the Open at Muirfield, and it broke by four shots the 36-hole record at Lytham.
Even more amazing? Snedeker hasn’t hit into any of the 206 bunkers in two days.
“No bogeys around here is getting some good breaks and playing some pretty good golf,” Snedeker said. “My mantra all week has been to get the ball on the greens as fast as possible. Once I’m on there, I have a pretty good hand for the speed of the greens. Just going to try and keep doing that over the weekend.”
Snedeker has never made the cut in three previous trips to the British Open, though this brand of golf is nothing new. As a rookie on the PGA Tour in 2007, he was 10 under through 10 holes on the North Course at Torrey Pines before having to settle for a 61. He picked up his third victory there this year by rallying from a seven-shot deficit on the last day.
“Brandt is a momentum-type guy, once he gets going and starting making putts and hitting shots,” said Mark Calcavecchia, another player who doesn’t waste time. “He plays quick and he’s got the quick tempo and he putts quick. And they go in quick. That’s awesome golf.”
What does that get him?
“A whole lot of nothing,” Snedeker said. “We’ve got 36 more holes to go. A lot can happen.”
And that was before Scott, the 32-year-old Australian, began making his steady move up the leaderboard. He bogeyed the third hole for the second day in a row, and then turned it around by smashing a 3-wood that bounced off a hillock to the right of the green on the par-5 seventh hole and set up a two-putt birdie. Scott opened the back nine with back-to-back birdies, and then hit two beautiful shots to 8 feet for another birdie on the 18th and a 67.
Scott, who had a 64 on Thursday, has never been in such good shape at a major going into the weekend.
“Why I’ve played good this week is kind of a culmination of everything I’ve done over the last couple of years,” Scott said. “I feel like this is the path I’ve been going down, and just happens to have happened here that I’ve put myself in good position after two days at a major.”
Much like Snedeker, though, he didn’t reach much more into it.
“I think you look at the names that are five and six shots back, and it means even less,” he said.
AP
