The 144th Open: Owen three under, Westwood’s round incomplete, Willett

Danny Willett’s name at the top of the leaderboard might be a shock to many but crucially not to the man himself. She wrote: “Well done, you’ve made the cut“.

Dustin Johnson leads by one shot on -10 ahead of England’s Danny Willett.

Johnson was 3-under through 13 holes, and resumed his round on 13, along with playing partners Jordan Spieth, who was 5-under for the tournament and even par for his round, and Hideki Matsuyama, who was 6-under for the round and the tournament.

So they moved the entire event back a day, with the third round going off Sunday and the 18-hole final Monday.

With the failings and frustrations of those already mentioned, there is greater attention on the new breed; the next crop best placed to be in with a chance of success and ending that search for Open glory. Willett is set to be in the final group in Saturday’s third round, and could yet hold the lead.

The only other time there has been a Monday finish in 143 previous British Opens was in 1988 when Seve Ballesteros won the last of his three crowns at Royal Lytham.

But he kept his composure to birdie the last for a second successive day after aggressively going for the front pin with a lob wedge to eight feet.

It’s taken longer than expected for Willett to fulfil his potential on the professional circuit but this could be the year he does. He has achieved things, remaining assured and safe, but largely unspectacular which has prevented him from adding the Claret Jug to his list of honours.

“Amateur and professional golf are very, very different but it put me in good stead”, said Willett, who is ranked No. 39. I mean, I haven’t read all of them yet.

Play suspended for 10 hours due to high winds meaning second round delayed until Saturday night. As big as the greens are at the Old Course, he might face a similar putt this week.

Willett returned to his hotel beside the 17th fairway and went back to bed for an hour. Two years ago he made his only cut to date at an Open, but he is leading the English charge this time around and has displayed the quality and desire to stay at the right end of the leaderboard.

But he quickly bounced back with a superb eagle on the par five fifth hole to get back to three under before steadying his round with 11 consecutive pars.

The Sheffield golfer birdied the first three holes and eagled the par-four 10th to sit in tied seventh.

At the Nedbank in Sun City, he showed he can handle the pressure of being leader by shooting 65 and 66 over the weekend to see off Luke Donald.