The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Johnson, Kisner tied at top of leaderboard after two rounds
Housemates Johnson and Kisner tied atop leaderboard after two rounds
CARNOUSTIE, Scotland — A light rain in the morning that gave way to soft sunlight in the afternoon took some of the sting out of Carnoustie.
Just not all of it.
Kevin Kisner found that out with one swing that erased his two-shot lead Friday in the British Open and left him tied with housemate Zach Johnson. He hit an 8-iron that only needed to go 150 yards to clear the Barry Burn in front of the 18th green. Instead, it floated out of the yellow grass to the right, bounced off the base of the rock wall that frames the winding stream and led to a double bogey.
Disappointed but not down, Kisner removed his cap behind the green and scratched his head as if he wondered what hit him.
“They call it ‘Car-nasty’ for a reason,” he said after signing for his 1-under 70. “Even when you think you’ve got it, it will jump up and bite you.”
It took a chunk out of Dustin Johnson and Justin Thomas, the Nos. 1 and 2 players in the world who won’t be around for the weekend. Johnson finished with a double bogey to miss the cut by one. Thomas made three straight double bogeys on the front nine and missed by one.
And it left a wide-open weekend on a course with a history of crazy finishes.
Zach Johnson, whose name is already on the claret jug from his playoff victory at St. Andrews three years ago, played in the morning under an umbrella and finished with a 30-foot birdie putt for a 67.
Johnson and Kisner are staying in a house of seven players — five of them major champions — and share the lead at 6-under 136.
They played on different ends of a day that started gray and ended with shadows. Scotland’s unusually dry summer finally got a reprieve. There wasn’t enough rain to turn brown fairways green, though it at least kept shots from rolling endlessly.
They head into a weekend with endless possibilities.
One shot behind were 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 also is in
the mix in his bid to take the claret jug back home to Texas. Spieth hit 8-iron through a gap in the trees for a birdie-birdie start to the back nine, and he dropped only one shot over the four closing holes at Carnoustie for a 67.