Pars for Bradley and Sergio at the last; a 67 for the former, a 68 for the latter. And that’s that for today’s blog. We’ll be back here at 8am BST tomorrow morning for the second round. Expect a little wind and rain, stuff that was conspicuously absent on this near-perfect day of record-equalling scoring. Nighty night!
-8: Mickelson
-5: Reed, Kaymer
-4: Thomas, Stricker, Horschel, Finau, Kjeldsen, Sullivan, Z Johnson, Bradley
A marvellous piece here from Mark Tallentire, reporting on the bedlam at the 11th, the infamous Railway hole. “David Duval, the 2001 champion, had a nine there while his playing partners Sandy Lyle, who lifted the Claret Jug in 1985, and Scott Gregory outperformed him with treble-bogey sevens. Eleven-over for the group sounds like the stuff of a pub society.”
Sergio at 17. He sets his tee shot out to the right, and it’s not coming back, no matter how much he shouts “HANG ON!!!” at the ball. It plops into a deep greenside bunker, and that’ll be quite an up and down if he makes it. He carefully flips the ball out of the trap, high into the air, and lands it eight feet past the flag. It’s a fine escape, but the putt that follows doesn’t match it; it wafts down the left and he’s back to -3. Bradley meanwhile finds the front of the green, lags up, and taps in for his par. He stays at -4.
Par down the last for Stenson, who signs for a 68. He should be happier than he looks. He’s had a face on for the majority of the round. Scott was a foot short with his birdie effort, and will scribble his name on the bottom of a 69. And finally it’s the defending champ, whose attempt to escape with an unlikely par dies off to the right of the hole. It was a tricky read. All three men in this group can be pleased with their day’s work, though it was a bit of a miserable end to the round for Zach Johnson. Meanwhile Sergio and Keegan Bradley have both birdied 16; they’re ending their rounds strongly, the wind (such as it is) behind them.
-8: Mickelson (F)
-5: Reed (F), Kaymer (F)
-4: Thomas (F), Stricker (F), Horschel (F), Finau (F) , Kjeldsen (F), Sullivan (F), Z Johnson (F), Garcia (16), Bradley (16)
Zach Johnson takes his medicine, but it’s the equivalent of hiccuping mid-gulp and spewing sticky tincture all down the front of your shirt. He chips out of the sand - and straight into the rough down the left! That is very careless indeed. But he’s made of tough stuff, and so he wipes himself down, concentrates the mind, and punches a fine third straight at the flag, leaving himself a ten-footer to save his par. “I want to give Po’ Phil a big hug,” announces Andy Gordon as he joins the back of a long queue. “My wife doesn’t understand, but somehow I think that you and all the other readers will.”
Kaymer finds the heart of 18 in two. He can’t make the 15-foot birdie putt he leaves himself, but that’s a no-bogey round of 66. He’s -5, three off Mickelson’s lead. His playing partner Dustin Johnson watches a short birdie effort horseshoe out. It’s not been his day. That’s a fairly uneventful level-par 71 for the US Open champion. Meanwhile back down the hole, the defending champion Zach Johnson’s round threatens to unravel just a little. After his first bogey of the day on 17, he drives into a bunker down the left of 18, and he’s right up against the face. He’ll have no choice but to take his medicine and splash out sideways.
So much for Zach Johnson’s bid for a 63. He pushes his tee shot at 17 well wide right, and he’s got to lob over a bunker to get anywhere near the flag. He leaves himself a 12-footer coming back, that’s his first dropped shot of the day. He’s back to -5. Adam Scott rakes one in from Mickelson Country on the same green. That’s back to back birdies, and he’s -2. Henrik Stenson, the third member of a group going very well, came back into the reckoning after that bogey at 13. Birdies at 14 and 16, and he’s -3.
Here’s Lefty! And he’s looking, and sounding, very emotional. “This is pretty heartbreaking, because I had that ball right in the centre of the hole with a foot to go, and it was perfect speed. I don’t understand what just happened, because it moved ... I don’t understand it! To have played this round, and to walk away feeling like I want to cry is a very awkward feeling.” How has he improved his putting of late? “A bunch of practice.” So there you have it. Gary Player was right all along.
Way too early to be thinking about stuff like this, but what the hell, I’m feeling giddy after that Mickelson round. If he ends up winning this week, he’ll become the second oldest Open champion in history, roughly three months younger than Old Tom Morris (1867) but nearly two years older than Roberto de Vicenzo (1967).
Oh we’ve got some golf to play yet! A tidy two putts on 16 for Zach Johnson, and he’s picking up another birdie. He moves to -6. And if he finishes birdie-birdie, he’ll sign for a 63 too! Kaymer pars 17 to remain at -5; a couple of extra joules on his 15-foot birdie attempt, and he’d be up there with the defending champion too.
So this has the feeling of After The Lord Mayor’s Show about it. Which is preposterous, really, as Andy Sullivan has just birdied 18 to sign for a 67, Sergio has picked up another at 14 to move to -3, and Kaymer and Zach Johnson are still within touching distance of claiming second place tonight for themselves. But then, when you’re a lip-out away from witnessing a 62 at a major, that’s just how things are. Phil Mickelson, what are you like?
Dear me! Mickelson did everything possible to make that birdie. He couldn’t have got any closer without actually breaking the record. A dimple away from 62. He is, however, in not bad nick, clear at the top of a fascinating leaderboard. (While the Mickelson brouhaha was going on, Martin Kaymer birdied 16, while Zach Johnson picked one up at 14.)
-8: Mickelson (F)
-5: Reed (F), Kaymer (16), Z Johnson (15)
-4: Thomas (F), Stricker (F), Horschel (F), Finau (F), Kjeldsen (F)
A dimple away from history! Oh this is heartbreaking! Mickelson isn’t going to die wondering: this ball is going to reach the cup whatever happens. Don’t leave it short like Jason Dufner did at Oak Hill three years ago. He hits it firm. Right to left. And it’s curving in! But somehow - how on earth did this happen?!! - the ball takes a little kink to the right just at the death, and lips out on the right! He’s left with a tap in, the ball peeking over the edge. That is astonishing. And such a shame. But to Phil’s eternal credit, he walks off the green with a rueful smile. “Aw man! Unreal!” he laughs as he disappears into the marker’s tent. Wow. Still, that’s a record-equalling 63, and he’d have taken that this morning all right!
Phil Mickelson walks up the last to tumultuous applause! This sort of thing isn’t supposed to happen until Sunday afternoon. But he’s two putts away from joining the men’s major-championship 63 Club: he’d become the 26th member, and it’d be the 28th round in history (Greg Norman and Vijay Singh have done it twice). More thrillingly, he’s one putt away from smashing a 43-year-old record. Nobody’s ever shot 62 in a men’s major. (Incidentally, Lee Westwood, his playing partner, signs for a level-par 71. He partnered Danny Willett in the final round of the Masters. He partnered Dustin Johnson in the final round of the US Open. Is he about to complete a bridesmaid hat-trick?!)
Lefty takes a long time over his second. As he surely must. A lot of thought. A lot of chat. And finally an easy-as-you-like swing, a careful high fade into the heart of the green. He’s pin high, and will have a 15-footer for a record-breaking major-championship round of 62!
Lucky, lucky Phil Mickelson. He takes 3-wood off the 18th tee for position, and nearly sends his ball whistling into a bunker down the left of the fairway. But it somehow squirts round the side, on the left, and he’ll have a shot into the green. The tension is palpable. Almost unbearable. In an attempt to relive it, some admin: a birdie for Andy Sullivan in 16, and he’s -3; bogey for Sergio at 11 but he rolls in a 30-footer to get the shot back immediately at 12, and he’s -2; and a sad end to Matt Kuchar’s round, who takes two to get out of a bunker and ends with a level-par 71 that should have been so much better.
Mickelson needs to knock in this 15-footer on 17 if he’s to have a chance of shooting 62. He prowls around it awhile, then gently waves his putter, sending the ball rolling slowly, slowly, slowly towards the cup. A careful left-to-right slider. It doesn’t look as though he’s given it enough gas. Will it reach? Will it die off to the right? Nope! In it goes! The crowd go crazy! He moves to -8, three clear of Reed, but that seems almost secondary right now. As things stand, par on the last, and he’ll become the 26th man to shoot 63 in a major championship. He’ll be the first to do it in an Open since Rory McIlroy at St Andrews in 2010. But if he manages a birdie for 62 ... wow. We’ll be breaking new ground. Anyway, time continues to tick on. We’re potentially 15 minutes until Epoch o’Clock!
Mickelson is giving himself a chance here. His tee shot into 17 is pin high, and he’ll have a look from 15 feet. All this bedlam is somewhat obscuring the brilliance of Zach Johnson, whose start to his title defence is highly impressive: another birdie, this time at 14, and he joins Patrick Reed in second place at -5, two behind the leader. Here’s Hubert O’Hearn: “World’s shortest email. Lefty: Vintage.”
Mickelson is up against the face of the bunker at 16, but lashes at the ball with his lob wedge wide open, sending his ball miles into the air and slamming down ten feet from the hole. What an escape that is. He’s still got a bit of work to do for his birdie, but in the putt goes! He’s -7 for his round. One more birdie, and he’s matching the major-tournament record of 63. Two more, and he’ll be breaking a record that’s stood since Johnny Miller did it at Oakmont in 1973. The next 30 minutes could be epochal.
Matt Kuchar has just been extremely careless on 17. Having missed a very gettable birdie putt on 16, he should knock in a five-footer on the next to make up for it. But he lets it slide by, then misses the par putt coming back: instead of moving to -3 or maybe even -4, he’s back to -1. His flat stick has really let him down there. In other mini-meltdown news, Stenson misses a tiddler on 13 to drop back to -1.
Kaymer’s tee shot at 14 is exquisite, pin high and six feet to the right of the flag. A huge “ooooh” of disappointment as his birdie putt stays out on the right lip. Not sure how that didn’t drop. But he remains two behind Mickelson, who has just found the bunker front right of 16 with his fairway wood. A nice, flat lie, and he’ll still have a chance to get up and down for birdie. But much will depend on how he finds that ball.
Soren Kjeldsen, out in 33, has finished strongly. A birdie at 16, and now another at the last, sending his approach pin high to 15 feet and stroking in the putt. He puts his name to a 67, and he’s two off Mickelson’s lead. Speaking of Lefty, he lags another long birdie putt, this time at 15, to a couple of feet and cleans up for par. He’s been outstanding today. Barely a misstep so far. And Dustin has been quiet for a while, but he whips his second at 13 to six feet. He should be moving to -2, but he pulls his putt. He just doesn’t quite look on it today.
A bogey-bogey finish for Justin Leonard. That’s four dropped strokes in the final five holes; the birdie at 16 doesn’t mask the wheels clanking off. He had been going so well, too. But it’s still a one-under 70. Meanwhile on 12, Stenson finds his neutral space. A calm second into the heart of the green, pin high, and he rolls in a 25-foot right-to-left curler to reclaim the shot he dropped in a hot funk on the previous hole. He’s back to -2.
We have a new leader of the 2016 Open! It’s the 2013 champion Phil Mickelson, who slides a 25-foot putt from right to left into the cup at 14. That’s his sixth birdie of a blemish-free card! Kaymer looked to be in trouble down the right of 12, but lashed out from thick rough to the heart of the green, and very nearly drained the 20-footer he left himself. And the 2012 US Open champion Webb Simpson - who has done precious little since winning at Olympic - has birdied 7, 8 and 9 to reach the turn in 33.
-6: Mickelson (14)
-5: Reed (F)
-4: Thomas (F), Stricker (F), Horschel (F), Finau (F), Kaymer (12), Z Johnson (11)
Henrik Stenson struggles his way up the right of the Railway hole. He sends his drive into thick rough, then whips his second into equally tangled nonsense 30 yards ahead of the green. A brilliant chip to four feet should save his par, but he pulls the putt, stares at the source of a minor noise in the gallery, which surely had nothing to do with the missed short one, then stands around with a face on for an eternity. Simmer down! That’s a shot gone. He’s back to -1. By all accounts - well, Richard Boxall on Sky’s account - Stenson was engaged in a full and frank discussion with his caddie on the practice area yesterday. Neutral space, Henrik, neutral space. Up on 12, Andy Sullivan rattles in a 40-footer up 12, and the birdie brings him to -3. Meanwhile Matthew Southgate - who shed tears of joy after finishing fourth at the Irish Open, such a heartwarming moment after his recovery from illness - is going well again, with birdies at 2, 4 and now 7. He’s -3.
A mammoth 60-foot birdie “opportunity” for Phil at 13. He does wonderfully well to lag it up to five feet, and saves his par. That’s a staunch two-putt. He’s looking very business-like. A brisk start by Rafael Cabrera-Bello, who birdies 1, 4 and now 7; he’s -3. Back on 9, Sergio wedges his second to six feet past the flag, the ball biting immediately. He’ll have that to reach the turn in 34. And it’s in. He’s -2, and looks pleased enough with his afternoon’s work so far. The wind hasn’t quite picked up as expected, incidentally, and it’s turned a little too, so scoring on the back nine shouldn’t be quite the struggle of earlier. We’ll see.
A fine par save by Sergio on the Postage Stamp. He’s in the Coffin to the left of the green, but has enough space to splash out towards the flag. He sends his ball 15 feet past the flag - about the best he could do - and then drains the return putt. Marvellous. Birdies at 14 and 16 have elevated Bill Haas to -3, while JB Holmes has started fast with birdies at 1, 4 and 6. He’s -3 too.
News of the rescue-club-nudging 2004 champion, Todd Hamilton. He was out in level-par 36, but has slipped a little since, with bogeys at 11 and 15. He’s +2 with a couple of holes left to play. He’s playing alongside another Troon victor, 1989’s Mark Calcavecchia, who was out in 38 but birdied 11, of all holes, and is currently +1. The third member of the group is the 1997 winner Justin Leonard, who has responded to dropping shots at 14 and 15 with birdie at 16: he’s -3. Incidentally - and mention of Hamilton always brings his Open Nadir Twin to mind - Ben Curtis has shot 77. What a couple of years those were.
The 2011 PGA champion Keegan Bradley is going along very nicely at the moment. Birdies at 2, 4 and 6, and he’s just bumped his second into 7 to eight feet. He can’t convert, but his putt only just missed on the left, and he’s still tied for ninth at -3. Sergio however lets a five-footer slip by on the left, and he’s back to -1. But another birdie for Kaymer, who knocks in his fourth of the day, straight across 10. He’s -4.
Adam Scott has started out with eight pars. He’s been making a habit of this Faldoesque behaviour recently. He very nearly loses his second into 9 down the swale to the left of the green, but the ball holds on the narrow strip between flag and bank, and he’ll have a good look at birdie from there. In it goes, from eight feet, and he reaches the turn in -1. His partner Zach Johnson lips out from similar distance, but he’s turning in 32. Pars at 5 and 6 for Sergio, incidentally; he’s still trucking along nicely, if not spectacularly.