British Open leaderboard 2014: Phil Mickelson makes early Friday move at Royal Liverpool

The conditions are much more difficult on Friday morning at the Open Championship, but Phil Mickelson is making an early move after two remarkable recovery approach shots at the fourth and fifth hole. Mickelson said on Thursday that his first round featured some of his best golf in almost a year, it’s just that his score, a 2-over 74, didn’t show it. The defending champ was out in the afternoon, when only Adam Scott was able to post a score comparable to all the lower numbers we saw in the morning wave.

Phil’s half of the draw was also supposed to get the tougher conditions again on Friday, one of those Open quirks that so often seems to affect a player’s chances, based purely on luck of the tee time. But as long as the wind stays up for the afternoon players, Tiger and Rory among them, Phil would probably prefer that course play as tough as possible. That typically rewards a good round and solid play with a big jump up the leaderboard, as opposed to more benign conditions where a player can sneak through some shaky form and still post a number.

And Phil is making his move early on the front nine of a his second round, nearly holing out for eagle on No. 4 and then rolling in an eagle on No. 5. After a wayward tee shot at the fourth, Phil needed to work a little magic and loft one from some junk up and over the pin. He somehow put a ton of English on it, and nearly spun it right back into the cup.

After giving a shot back at the third, that tap-in birdie would get him back to level for the day.

On the next hole, an easier par-5, Phil sent his drive way right. Mickelson had a pretty tough lie and limited options, but pulled off an amazing punch shot out of the fescue that ran all the way up onto the green and well within eagle range. He’d convert the moderate-length putt from about 12 feet to get to 2-under on the day, one of the best early scores of the round. The start has pushed him 40 spots up the leaderboard.

One player who has taken a step back in the tough AM conditions is Scott, the only guy who was able to actually post a good round on Thursday afternoon in the tougher setup. But Scott’s two dropped shots have little to do with the increased wind. The putter has always been the weak spot of Scott’s otherwise world class game, and he made bogeys at Nos. 2 and 3 thanks to a some missed short ones with that club. He’s back at 2-under and has plenty of time to get it back on track, but he was the one guy you expected to emerge from this half of the draw. Scott is probably the best tee-to-green player in the world, but those shaky putting strokes popping up so early in the round is never a good sign.

Here’s the early Friday leaderboard around Mickelson and Scott: