Johnson regains lead at Open

Danny Willett believes he is still in contention for a first major title, despite shooting a level-par round of 72 on Sunday and dropping back down the leaderboard at the 144th Open Championship. His 70 was a unusual effort, having started with an ugly double-bogey 6 but then including six birdies in the middle.

Dustin Johnson began the morning with a one-shot lead, but he took a bogey at the par-5 14th after needing four shots to get down from alongside the green.

And Willett said St. Andrews suits his game because of his fade.

But to say that Willett, whose father, Stephen, is a Church of England vicar, has just been lucky would be grossly unfair.

Johnson made it through 13 holes before play was finally called as darkness enveloped St. Andrews. I am dying to make the cut but I am 58, I play once a year and there are kids less than half my age out there. It does better for me focusing on the task at hand.

Jordan Spieth is among the players saying the R&A never should have resumed the second round of the British Open at 7 a.m. Saturday in conditions that made it tough to keep the ball from moving on the greens.

Aussies Jason Day and Adam Scott were in a tie for fourth at seven-under. His mental toughness may have been questioned after letting a lead slip in the 2012 Scottish Open at Castle Stuart, but don’t be surprised if the 34-year-old Glaswegian knocks off something big before too long.

After greenkeepers cleared the waterlogged course so play could restart at 10am, Willett carded birdies on the second, fifth and ninth to reach the turn in 33, before another birdie on the 10th gave him a three-shot lead as Zach Johnson dropped shots on the 11th and 12th.

The soft conditions would have been prime for low scoring if not for an incessant wind.

What might be more impressive than his driving and ball-striking in the wind is his putting.

“There’s every chance someone could go out and overtake us”.

Westwood has three holes left to play in his second round, and sits three under par for the tournament.

It was a day of old-guard exits in the golf world. “If I play well, that’s just the icing on the cake because I just embrace the week”. “I don’t really know exactly (the circumstances)”.

He went up 18 knowing another bogey would see him miss the cut.

Spieth finished with a 20-foot birdie on the 18th hole for a 67. It was a fitting show of respect, one that every player in the field would surely love to be afforded one day. Willett really made his presence known on the global stage when he beat Rory McIlroy in the 2007 British Amateur.

Johnson, for his part, has always been in the mix at this major championship and others.

Four young English amateurs, Ashley Chesters, Paul Kinnear, Ben Taylor and Alister Balcombe, have performed in the Open at St Andrews this week.