The second round of the 151st Open Championship at Royal Liverpool saw a course that was more challenging, and the weather started take effect with rain in the afternoon. However, before the precipitation arrived, Brian Harman recorded the best round of the tournament, shooting 6-under 65 to get to -10 through 36 holes.
With top 70 and ties making the cut at +3, it showed the difficulty of a major championship as the day progressed.
Here are four takeaways from the second round of the Open Championship.
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Brian Harman records the best round of the tournament with a 6-under 65
Brian Harman came into the Open Championship with three straight top-12 finishes, including a second-place finish at the Travelers Championship a few weeks ago. After firing a 4-under 67 in Thursday’s first round, which included just one bogey on the par-4 10th, the lefty continued his excellent play.
Despite making par on the opening hole Friday, Harman reeled off four consecutive birdies to get to 8-under par, en route to a 4-under 31 on the front nine. He continued to keep his bogey statistic at one by staying par or better throughout all 18 of his tests today.
Then came the final hole of the day, the par-5 18th. From 241 yards out, he was able to get his approach to 14 feet, setting up an eagle to finish day at 6-under 65 and become the first player in the field to get to -10 or better this week.
On the day, Harman led the field in strokes gained: total, putting and par-5 scoring. His biggest shot of the day was a chip-in from the rough to save par on the par-4 12th after hitting his tee shot into a fairway pot bunker.
With his five-stroke lead at the halfway point of the Open Championship, he became the ninth player in the last 40 years with a 36-hole lead of at least five strokes in a major championship. The previous eight have gone on to win, including World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler at the 2022 Masters and five-time major champion Brooks Koepka, who led by seven at the 2019 PGA Championship en route to his win.
Also read: Top Takeaways from the 1st round of the Open Championship
Tommy Fleetwood & Sepp Straka remain in the hunt
Because Harman was part of the morning wave, that meant Tommy Fleetwood was at one point seven shots back of the lead after a bogey on the par-3 sixth.
However, Fleetwood turned into a different mode on the back nine with a birdie on the par-4 10th. Despite a bogey on the par-3 13th, he responded with back-to-back birdies on the par-4 14th and the par-5 15th before going into a fairway pot bunker on the par-4 16th and settling for bogey.
On the 18th, he took the scenic route to the hole as had to get up and down for par from behind a pot bunker in order to remain at -5 and in the final grouping with Harman tomorrow. Fleetwood, who is trying to become the first Englishman to win the Open Championship was Sir Nick Faldo in 1992, one-putted the last five holes in order to remain within striking distance of Harman.
Right behind Fleetwood and Harman is Sepp Straka, who recorded the second-best round of the day with a 4-under 67. Straka, who is coming off a win at the John Deere Classic in his most recent start, shot even par in his first 18 holes.
Despite shooting 1-over 36 through his first nine holes today, Straka turned things around when he arrived to the par-4 12th. He would go on to finish his round making birdies over his final seven holes, even with a bogey on the par-4 16th. Through the first two rounds, Straka has led the field in par-3 scoring as his best shot came on his approach on the par-4 first when he his approach 222 yards to get within six feet for a birdie on the opening hole.
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Pot bunkers provides its challenges
Friday continued to show the difficulty of playing links golf with players hitting pot bunkers, despite trying to avoid them. It resulted in players taking shots off the board and even just trying to get out. Whether it is the sod walls that go up to as high as six feet, the field had to figure out which was the best spot for the next spot. Sometimes, that shot had to be hitting lateral in order to set up an easier next shot.
For world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, he was in a greenside pot bunker with not much room to work on the final hole. Scheffler, who had not missed a cut in nearly a year at the FedEx St. Jude Championship, was at +4 and needed to make a birdie on the final hole to get inside the cutline.
Scheffler, who was almost up against the sod wall, nearly holed out for eagle, but settled for a tap-in birdie to get inside the cut and continue to his streak of not missing the cut.
His birdie on the 18th hole, was just his second of the day as he made six bogeys, finishing his day at 4-over 75.
Related: Breaking down all 18 holes of the 151st Open Championship
The stars who missed the Open Championship cut
For some of the favorites in the Open Championship field, they are checking out two days earlier, having missed the cut and will have to wait another nine months to hoist a major championship trophy, which will be at next April’s Masters.
Some of the stars include 2013 U.S Open Champion Just Rose and 2013, 2018, 2019 and 2021 Open Championship winners Phil Mickelson, Francesco Molinari, Shane Lowry and Collin Morikawa, respectively. Also missing the cut is two-time major winner Dustin Johnson and Tony Finau, who sits at No. 16 in the Official World Golf Ranking.
However, another big name who will not be playing on the weekend is Justin Thomas, who currently sits at No. 20 in the world rankings. Thomas, who shot an 11-over 81 in the second round at the U.S. Open last month, recorded an 11-over 82 on Thursday, en route to his second straight major championship missed cut.
In addition, Thomas, who has won two major championships, currently sits at No. 75 in the FedEx Cup standings (and will probably drop more on Sunday) will have to try to turn things around just to get inside the top 70 of the FedEx Cup standings to make the playoffs, let alone the top 50 for entry into next season’s designated events.
Also, Thomas sits at No. 13 in the Team USA Ryder Cup standings and with six weeks left before the end of play and Captain Zach Johnson makes his six picks, Thomas needs to play well if he wants to have a spot on Team USA in Rome in two months.