While You Were Sleeping: Tommy Fleetwood Is On Fire Early, Bryson Fighting For His Weekend Life And A Loaded Leaderboard Up Top
Day two and we're getting scoring early. Some of it is the weather, seems to be a decent day but that can change at any moment. Also, having the pin position of 3 being gettable completely changes an early hole. As I blog this (5:50, so shit will change obviously) but this is where we stand at the top:
Not too much change in the top from where we ended yesterday:
Harris English took the first step in separating himself by jumping up to -5 and being the first one there today. Kind of crazy story, but Harris English is doing this without his normal caddie who wasn't allowed in the country due to new laws and the fact he served 10 years in jail back in the day:
Pretty important week for English too, who is 10th in the Ryder Cup points. A win and he's all but in basically. A good tournament and you may see him sneak into that top-6 and auto qualify.
But, like I said things change fast here at The Open. Since then you had English take a bogey and a new leader
Advertisement
Who knows how long that will hold because Hatton now has a birdie putt on 7 to get to -5 as well. Guys seem to be taking advantage of the par 5s so far, but like I said you'll see a good amount of yo-yoing up top with the leaderboard being what it is.
Speaking of wins, Tommy Fleetwood. We know the story, he can't win on the Tour. He's a great player, just can't get that win. He was a popular pick this week because of him being an elite iron player and Portrush being a 2nd shot course. He struggled yesterday, but quickly changed today:
DataGolf has the cut line right now being +2 as the most likely outcome. Love that site, gives some real updates and can nerd out if you're into that sort of stuff. I say that because, well, Bryson had a day:
2nd major round ever for him where he didn't have a birdie or eagle yesterday and sat at +7. He's still sitting at +6 and it's going to take a huge run just to get to the cut line. Dude just struggles with links golf, overthinks the wind and trying to figure that all out. Speaking of wind, how the hell did this not go in?
Advertisement
I think you see someone break away at the top today. I don't know who, I'm hoping Hatton or Fitzpatrick for selfish, monetary reasons, but there is scoring opportunities out there, especially if the current weather holds. You still have some horses to tee off, most notably Scottie. I'm sure we'll see Scottie do his thing of not looking great, still shooting -3 and being right in the lead.
Some more highlights from the early morning here
Good to see Rickie playing well. There is something about him at the links style that just works. I know he's fallen off a bit this year, but still got a soft spot for the dude.
Advertisement
Rory is all over the place. He starts with the birdie
Then he's standing like this
You got the crowd losing their mind any time he makes a putt, trying to get him to the top of the leaderboard. He's -1 on the day, -2 overall and still lurking, but it's starting to get jumbled up. He's gotta make a little bit of a run here, especially with some of the names around him.