If Phil Mickelson is going to successfully defend his British Open title, he’ll need to make a serious run up the leaderboard on the weekend. The defending Open champion had opportunities to make up a lot of ground on Friday, but couldn’t quite put a complete round together and instead settled for a 2-under round of 70.
The Open leaderboard 2014: Phil Mickelson grinds out an adventurous 2-under 70
Phil Mickelson was very close to a good round, but couldn’t capitalize on some prime opportunities and finished with a 1-under, 71.
Although the score wasn’t bad, especially in tough conditions, it was very close to being significantly better. He got off to a fairly good start with a birdie at No. 4 and an eagle at No. 5, moving him to even for the tournament. Those, however, proved to be two of just three red numbers on the round. Mickelson hit the ball very well at times -- including an absolutely perfect approach at No. 7 -- only to miss opportunities with his putter. Mickelson’s hot putter was a major part in him winning the Claret Jug last year and it just hasn’t come around this year. It wasn’t just the putter causing issues, however, even his famed short game failed him at times, like at No. 8 when a poor chip led to a bogey:
Mickelson ran into some issues off the tee at No. 10, finding the out of bounds on the left.
To his credit, Mickelson rebounded on the par-5 and still managed to come away with a par. That would have been an eagle, if not for the out-of-bounds. Mickelson hit two shots out of bounds this week, but played the two holes at just 1-over. He had several opportunities to pick up shots on the back nine, but couldn’t buy a birdie. He finished the round on a good note with a birdie at No. 18 that came despite hitting a ball into the grandstand. At even-par, Mickelson isn’t in danger of missing the cut. He is, however, six shots off the lead and will have to play well over the weekend if he’s going to be in the mix on Sunday.
Unlike Mickelson, it doesn’t appear Bubba Watson will be around for the weekend. He shot an even-par 72 on Friday, including a potentially costly bogey at No. 18. He sits at 4-over and on the wrong side of the 2-over projected cut line. While the line could certainly move during the afternoon wave, quite a few players will have to struggle for it to move to 4-over.
Following an opening round 68, Adam Scott was a trendy pick to win the tournament. He played well despite tough afternoon conditions on Thursday and was positioned to make a run on Friday. It didn’t look like that was going to happen early on with Scott instead struggling to make birdies. He dropped a pair of shots early on and two more bogeys on the back nine dropped him to 3-over for the round at one point. He made up for many of the early issues with a strong close that included back-to-back birdies to close end the day. At 3-under, Scott is still in position to contend on the weekend, even if his round on Friday wasn’t what some expected from the World No. 1.
Here is a full look at where things stand with the afternoon wave slowly starting to take its turn:
Place | Player | Score | Thru |
T1 | Rory McIlroy | -6 | 9:27 AM |
T1 | Francesco Molinari | -6 | 5 |
T3 | George Coetzee | -5 | F |
T3 | Matteo Manassero | -5 | 4 |
T3 | Sergio Garcia | -5 | 2 |
6 | Brooks Koepka | -4 | 7 |
T7 | Hideki Matsuyama | -3 | 9:27 AM |
T7 | Jimmy Walker | -3 | 9:38 AM |
T7 | Yoshinobu Tsukada | -3 | 11:06 AM |
T7 | Robert Karlsson | -3 | 11 |
T7 | Edoardo Molinari | -3 | 7 |
T7 | Jim Furyk | -3 | 3 |
T7 | Adam Scott | -3 | F |
T14 | Louis Oosthuizen | -2 | 9:49 AM |
T14 | Stephen Gallacher | -2 | 10:00 AM |
T14 | David Hearn | -2 | 10:11 AM |
T14 | Kristoffer Broberg | -2 | 10:44 AM |
T14 | Bill Haas | -2 | F |
T14 | Thomas Bjorn | -2 | 4 |
T14 | Rickie Fowler | -2 | 2 |
T14 | Justin Rose | -2 | F |
T22 | Tiger Woods | -1 | 1 |
T22 | Marc Leishman | -1 | 9 |
T22 | Koumei Oda | -1 | 8 |
T22 | Charl Schwartzel | -1 | 9:16 AM |
T22 | Jordan Spieth | -1 | 9:27 AM |
T22 | Dustin Johnson | -1 | 9:38 AM |
T22 | Hunter Mahan | -1 | 10:00 AM |
T22 | Marc Warren | -1 | 10:33 AM |
T22 | Freddie Jacobson | -1 | 6 |
T22 | Ryan Moore | -1 | 5 |
T32 | Darren Clarke | E | 3 |
T32 | Henrik Stenson | E | 1 |
T32 | K.J. Choi | E | 9:16 AM |
T32 | Rhein Gibson | E | 10:55 AM |
T32 | Brian Harman | E | 10:55 AM |
T32 | D.A. Points | E | F |
T32 | Gary Woodland | E | F |
T32 | Thongchai Jaidee | E | F |
T32 | Phil Mickelson | E | F |
T32 | Jason Dufner | E | F |
T32 | Keegan Bradley | E | 17 |
T32 | Shane Lowry | E | 15 |
T32 | Chris Rodgers | E | 11 |
T32 | Byeong-Hun An | E | 11 |
T32 | Matt Jones | E | 9 |
T32 | Ben Martin | E | 7 |
T32 | Harris English | E | 1 |
T49 | Tom Watson | 1 | 3 |
T49 | Ian Poulter | 1 | 9:38 AM |
T49 | Matt Kuchar | 1 | 9:49 AM |
T49 | Oscar Floren | 1 | 11:06 AM |
T49 | Kevin Stadler | 1 | F |
T49 | Chris Kirk | 1 | F |
T49 | Martin Kaymer | 1 | F |
T49 | Rafael Cabrera Bello | 1 | 15 |
T49 | Gregory Bourdy | 1 | 13 |
T49 | Kiradech Aphibarnrat | 1 | 7 |
T49 | Branden Grace | 1 | 6 |
T49 | Thorbjorn Olesen | 1 | 5 |
T49 | Mikko Ilonen | 1 | 4 |
T62 | Padraig Harrington | 2 | 9:16 AM |
T62 | Graeme McDowell | 2 | 9:49 AM |
T62 | Victor Dubuisson | 2 | 10:00 AM |
T62 | Ryan Palmer | 2 | 10:22 AM |
T62 | Jamie McLeary | 2 | F |
T62 | Charley Hoffman | 2 | F |
T62 | Kevin Streelman | 2 | F |
T62 | Brendon Todd | 2 | F |
T62 | Brandt Snedeker | 2 | F |
T62 | Jason Day | 2 | F |
T62 | Zach Johnson | 2 | F |
T62 | John Senden | 2 | 16 |
T62 | Kevin Na | 2 | 16 |
T62 | Oliver Fisher | 2 | 15 |
T62 | Rhys Enoch | 2 | 11 |
T62 | David Howell | 2 | 10 |
T62 | Dawie Van Der Walt | 2 | 10 |
T62 | Erik Compton | 2 | 9 |
T62 | Ashley Chesters | 2 | 6 |
T62 | Stewart Cink | 2 | 4 |
T62 | Luke Donald | 2 | 2 |
T62 | Paul Casey | 2 | 1 |
Projected Cut: 2-over | |||
T84 | Brett Rumford | 3 | 10:22 AM |
T84 | Hyung-Tae Kim | 3 | 10:55 AM |
T84 | Hiroshi Iwata | 3 | F |
T84 | Shawn Stefani | 3 | F |
T84 | Nick Watney | 3 | F |
T84 | Graham Delaet | 3 | F |
T84 | Lee Westwood | 3 | 17 |
T84 | Billy Hurley III | 3 | 12 |
T84 | Chris Wood | 3 | 9 |
T84 | Hyung-Sung Kim | 3 | 9 |
T84 | Matt Every | 3 | 1 |
T95 | Justin Leonard | 4 | 6 |
T95 | Angel Cabrera | 4 | 1 |
T95 | Nick Faldo | 4 | 10:11 AM |
T95 | Tomohiro Kondo | 4 | 10:22 AM |
T95 | Juvic Pagunsan | 4 | 10:44 AM |
T95 | Paul McKechnie | 4 | 10:44 AM |
T95 | Brendon de Jonge | 4 | F |
T95 | Cheng Tsung Pan | 4 | F |
T95 | Danny Willett | 4 | F |
T95 | Boo Weekley | 4 | F |
T95 | Miguel Jimenez | 4 | F |
T95 | Bubba Watson | 4 | F |
T95 | Billy Horschel | 4 | F |
T95 | Ryo Ishikawa | 4 | 17 |
T95 | Justin Walters | 4 | 11 |
T95 | Bernd Wiesberger | 4 | 9 |
T95 | Anirban Lahiri | 4 | 7 |
T95 | Ben Curtis | 4 | 6 |
T95 | Ross Fisher | 4 | 16 |
T114 | Todd Hamilton | 5 | 10:11 AM |
T114 | Peter Uihlein | 5 | 10:33 AM |
T114 | Scott Stallings | 5 | F |
T114 | Yusaku Miyazato | 5 | F |
T114 | Paul Dunne | 5 | 15 |
T119 | David Duval | 6 | 11 |
T119 | John Singleton | 6 | 10:33 AM |
T119 | Jonas Blixt | 6 | F |
T119 | Gonzalo Fdez-Castano | 6 | F |
T119 | John Daly | 6 | 16 |
T119 | Matthew Baldwin | 6 | 13 |
T119 | Cameron Tringale | 6 | 10 |
T119 | Tommy Fleetwood | 6 | 16 |
T127 | George McNeill | 7 | 14 |
T127 | Victor Riu | 7 | F |
T127 | Y.E. Yang | 7 | F |
T127 | A-Shun Wu | 7 | F |
T127 | J.B. Holmes | 7 | F |
T127 | Jamie Donaldson | 7 | F |
T127 | Patrick Reed | 7 | 4 |
T134 | Tyrrell Hatton | 8 | F |
T134 | Pablo Larrazabal | 8 | F |
T134 | Ernie Els | 8 | F |
T134 | Richard Sterne | 8 | 14 |
T134 | Jin Jeong | 8 | 13 |
T134 | Bradley Neil | 8 | 4 |
T140 | Chris Hanson | 9 | 11:06 AM |
T140 | Webb Simpson | 9 | F |
T140 | Chesson Hadley | 9 | 15 |
T140 | Chris Stroud | 9 | 14 |
T140 | Masanori Kobayashi | 9 | 10 |
T140 | Paul Lawrie | 9 | 6 |
146 | Brendan Steele | 10 | F |
T147 | Roberto Castro | 11 | F |
T147 | Russell Henley | 11 | F |
T147 | Joost Luiten | 11 | 16 |
T147 | Mark Wiebe | 11 | 15 |
151 | Matthew Southgate | 12 | F |
T152 | Dong-Kyu Jang | 13 | F |
T152 | Scott Jamieson | 13 | 11 |
154 | Sandy Lyle | 22 | F |
155 | Bryden Macpherson | 26 | F |
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