Day gets seal of approval from Woods as Open hits headwind

TIGER Woods has backed Jason Day to seize Open championship glory, declaring the Queenslander has the form to snare his first major.

Day is in equal fourth place with Adam Scott at seven- under, three shots behind American Dustin Johnson after grinding out a one- under 71 despite a delay of almost 11 hours caused by extreme winds.

Day and Scott lead an 11man Australian contingent heading into the third round after the Open was condemned to a Monday finish for only the second time in its 155- year history.

With better conditions forecast for the next two days, Geoff Ogilvy, Steven Bowditch, Matt Jones, Greg Chalmers, Brett Rumford, Marcus Fraser, Marc Leishman, John Senden and Scott Arnold all remain in contention with Day and Scott.

Scott Strange missed the cut by a shot along with Scott Hend, Rod Pampling and Adam Bland.

Johnson ( 10- under) leads England’s Danny Willett by a stroke. Scotland’s 1999 champion Paul Lawrie is third overall at eight- under.

On a contentious day when Royal & Ancient officials came under fire for starting an already delayed round in 70km winds, Woods and Day marvelled at the reception they received as they strolled up the 18th fairway.

Woods, who missed the cut for the second consecutive major with a 36- hole return of seven- over, said: “We were coming up 18, I said ( to Day), ‘ It’s the greatest walk in golf.’

“He says, ‘ Yeah, it’s nice when you have an eight- shot lead ( referring to Woods runaway victory at St Andrews in 2000), too.’

“I said, ‘ Well, you just go ahead and go get that lead.’

“He’s playing well enough to do it.

“But there’s a lot of guys who have a chance to win.

“This golf course is definitely gettable. The greens are soft and receptive, and if you’re driving it well and driving it long ( it) is very much gettable,” Woods said.