The conditions were supposed to be much tougher on Friday at Royal Troon, but the bad stuff has mostly held off so far in the second round of The Open. The sun has vanished, as you’d expect in Scotland (Beef Johnston called yesterday’s sunny day a “miracle”), but the wind and rain have not really picked up as expected.
The Open leaderboard 2016: Phil Mickelson stays dialed-in at Royal Troon
The star from Thursday is back out early on Friday at The Open, and Phil Mickelson has shown nothing that might make you think he’s going to lose his lead.
Phil Mickelson remains on top of the leaderboard, settling in nicely at the start of his second round and dodging the trouble he thought he’d face in his second loop. Mickelson is 1-under through his first five holes, and it could be even better. He has had a couple putts burn the edge and lip out already, so this could have been another 32 or so on the front nine. But I’m sure he’s happy to just be in the red and firmly atop the leaderboard.
Phil’s first and only birdie so far today came on the gettable par-5 fourth hole, where he put it right in the center to move to 9-under for the championship.
Mickelson gets his first birdie of the day on the fourth to move to -9 overall #TheOpen pic.twitter.com/X6riAqWCLg
— The Open (@TheOpen) July 15, 2016
Mickelson’s putter is completely dialed-in right now. He repeatedly put it in the heart of the jar during that record-matching round on Thursday and that trend seems to be continuing on Thursday. He’s been conservative off the tee, pulling irons on many of these short opening holes at Troon. So long as he avoids the trouble there, and the putter stays the way it’s been, it’s hard to see someone chasing him down or matching him at the 36-hole mark. But, as always with Phil, there’s still plenty of holes ahead on Friday for things to get, uh, a little sideways.
The margin for Mickelson is the same as it was when he went to bed on Thursday, as Søren Kjeldsen has made an early move to get to 6-under to become the next-closest chaser. The Dane is 2-under through his first eight holes and knows how to play through the links conditions, winning the Irish Open last year in some awful, awful stuff.
The best round of the day belongs to Charl Schwartzel, who is on fire and 5-under through his first eight holes. Schwartzel made an equipment change at the top of the week, dropping Nike and adding newcomer PXG to his bag. The move was odd, to say the least, right in the middle of the season and at the start of a major championship. But Schwartzel is in a groove on Friday and jumped 70 spots up the leaderboard early in the second round.
Here’s your current leaderboard at Troon:
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