Lytham St Anne’s (UK): American Brandt Snedeker took command of the British Open with a stunning six-under par 64 in Friday’s second round, matching the low 36-hole total in Open history and the 18-hole course record.
The 31-year-old American reached the clubhouse on 10-under 130, four strokes ahead of first-day leader Adam Scott and Paul Lawrie of Scotland.
On a day when challenging conditions sent scores soaring, steady Snedeker birdied six of the first 12 holes and parred in from there, solving Royal Lytham for his second round in a row without a bogey, the only player in the field who managed the feat.
Snedeker, who withdrew from last month’s US Open after suffering a cracked rib on the right side of his chest from severe coughing, equalled the record two-round low set by Nick Faldo in 1992 at Muirfield.
Snedeker, who shot 66 on Thursday, opened with a birdie for the second day in a row and added another at the sixth.
Overnight rain dumped nearly half an inch of water on the bunker-strewn links layout, but Snedeker thrived in conditions that sent every other player staggering back, including contenders World No. 2 Rory McIlroy and Belgian Nicolas Colsaerts.
“It was just one of those days where I couldn’t quite get on my game and struggled to get any sort of momentum,” McIlroy said.
McIlroy, last year’s US Open winner, struggled to a 75 to stand on 142 with Colsaerts, who fired a 77, and Ireland’s Padraig Harrington, the 2007 and 2008 Open champion, who made bogeys on three of the last four holes to shoot 72.
McIlroy pulled his approach left at the third and nearly hit Toru Oda, the caddie of Japan’s Toshinori Muto, in the adjacent fourth-hole tee box, leading to a bogey.
He took a double bogey at the ninth and bogeys at the 12th, 14th and 17th.
Four-time major champion Phil Mickelson fired a 78 with double bogeys at the sixth, 13th and 14th holes while fellow American Rickie Fowler took a triple bogey at the third on his way to a 72 and England’s Paul Casey trudged to a 79. (AFP)