Dustin Johnson battles blustery weather to take 1-stroke lead at British Open

ST ANDREWS, Scotland, July 18 American Jordan Spieth believes he will have to shoot 10-under par for his last two rounds at windswept St Andrews to keep his British Open hopes alive. For the first time, he missed the cut in the U.S. Open and the British Open in the same season, and neither was close.

The Open Championship will have a Monday finish for only the second time in its history after high winds postponed play on Saturday.

ST. ANDREWS, Scotland >> The grand pursuit of Jordan Spieth, redemption for Dustin Johnson, the mystery that has become Tiger Woods.

“If it flies another foot, it rolls right down to the hole”, Johnson said. I fatted my 3-iron off the tee, and then I fatted my 8-iron into the green on 2, drove it in a divot there on 4. “Every opportunity I have to make a key putt or hit an iron shot in there stiff with a short iron and get some momentum going”. Spieth ran over, then quickly moved out of the way as Johnson’s ball rolled by. “It was pretty amusing”. He was part of a four-way tie for the lead at Chambers Bay and outlasted Johnson and Oosthuizen over the final hour.

Play was delayed for 1 hour, 59 minutes in the afternoon.

Behind them, a long list of players lined up to take their shot on the weekend.

With players on some greens unable to get their balls to sit still, there were a number of groups in a holding pattern while others were forced to play.

“We gave it a great effort”, Spieth said. “We haven’t really seen that with the exception of Tiger”. That kind of launched my golf career. Johnson’s playing partner, Jordan Spieth, who is considered by many to be one of the best putters on tour, struggled mightily in the wind on Friday and Saturday with 39 putts and five three-putts.

“I made a lot of the right decisions down the stretch and would certainly have closed plenty of tournaments out”.

I “a really solid round tomorrow, though, because Dustin is not letting up”.

Paul Lawrie, the 46-year-old Scot who won a mad British Open at Carnoustie in 1999, played bogey-free over the final 14 holes for 70 and was two shots behind.

“I said yesterday it could be Armageddon today and it was this morning”, he said. This time it was because he finished his second round Friday.

“It’s just slow steps”. I think my previous best finish here is T30.

The cut was finally set at even par leaving 80 players to do battle over the final two days. The 14-time major champion has now missed the cut in three of his last four majors, and in back-to-back majors for the first time. And so I’m going to play my game – to stay in the mix if it’s not all there at the beginning, and if it is, I’m going to continue to play that way to try and get out in front.

Scott was at 7-under 137, along with Zach Johnson (71), Marc Warren (69) and Robert Streb (71).

His tie for 17th at the Masters gave him some respite, but the two missed cuts at the Opens are a huge blow which will raise even more question marks over whether, five months shy of his 40th birthday, he is a spent force.

Groundsmen worked feverishly to soak up the many puddles of standing water that made it look, at one stage, like play could even be abandoned for the day.

“Hopefully win that event so I can get into a place that I know very well”, Woods said referring to the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational. On the very first hole on the first day, I fatted a sand wedge in the water.