Frat house rule: Winner pays for flight home and nothing is off limits
Zach Johnson and Kevin Kisner are more than just housemates this week. They share the lead in the Open Championship.
Johnson, whose name is already on the Claret Jug from his playoff victory at St Andrews three years ago, holed a 30-foot birdie putt yesterday on the 18th hole at Carnoustie for a four-under 67 just as the rain stopped.
Kisner would have loved a finish like that. Instead, his 8-iron floated out of the rough, bounced in front of Barry Burn and cannoned off the rock wall that lines the stream. He made double bogey for a 70 that cost him a two-shot lead but not his outlook.
“I love where my putter is and love my position going into the weekend,” Kisner said.
They played on different ends of a day that began with umbrellas and finished with shadows. Scotland’s unusually dry summer finally got a reprieve. There wasn’t enough rain to turn brown fairways green, although it at least kept shots from rolling endlessly.
It sets up a weekend with endless possibilities.
Johnson and Kisner were at sixunder 136, one shot ahead of Tommy Fleetwood (65), Pat Perez (68) and Xander Schauffele (66). Perez was tied for the lead until he hit into a bunker on the 18th hole and took bogey. Rory McIlroy, pledging to “go down swinging” to rid himself of a bad Masters memory this year, had another 69 and was part of a large group two shots behind.
Jordan Spieth is back in the hunt, too, in his bid to take the Claret Jug back home to Texas. Spieth hit an 8-iron through a gap in the trees for a birdie-birdie start to the back nine, and he dropped only one shot — not four like he did in the first round — over the four closing holes at Carnoustie for a 67. He is just three shots back.
Tiger Woods still has work to do after a rugged start, good recovery and then a mix of birdies and bogeys that left him stuck in neutral on a better day for scoring. Woods had another 71 and was six shots behind, with 28 players between him and the lead. “I’m certainly right there in it,” he said. Kisner is a newcomer to what amounts to an American fraternity house at golf’s oldest championship the past three years. Four of them are among the
top 11 on the leaderboard going into the weekend with Spieth and Rickie Fowler, who shot 69 and was at three-under 139.
One of the house rules: Winner pays for the flight home, although not everyone will be on the same plane this year, with players headed in too many different directions. As for talking shop? Nothing is off limits.
“Everybody will tell their horror stories and good stories, and we’ll laugh and eat a big old meal and sit around and watch something stupid,” Kisner said.
Dustin Johnson, the No 1 player in the world, finished bogey-double bogey for a 72 and missed the cut by one.
The way golf has been going, it would be reasonable to see the name “Johnson” atop the leaderboard and assume it belonged to the topranked player.
But not necessarily at the British Open.
“I’ve been called Dustin many times,” Zach Johnson said. “I doubt he’s been called Zach that many times.”
Johnson overcame a bogey on the opening hole with birdies on the third and fourth holes, and he never put himself under too much pressure the rest of the way.
Fleetwood and McIlroy were playing a few groups ahead of Johnson, and it was a race to see who would wind up on top for much of the late morning until Johnson made his birdie putt on the final hole and McIlroy dropped a shot on the 15th by pulling his approach toward the gallery.