Glance at the British Open

– Scott admitting his shattering 2012 near miss at Royal Lytham, when he closed with four consecutive bogeys to lose by a shot, was driving his quest for the Claret Jug.

The tournament has been extended to Monday after losing considerable amount of time on the second day due to weather delays at the Old Course. Bubba Watson’s caddie Ted Scott tweeted that “Every R&A official in player dining is getting yelled at”.

When play does resume, there will be a lot of catching up to do.

Ian Poulter didn’t get mad.

“This is not a golf course that the leaders tend to come back on, so you really do have to be somewhat there or thereabouts going into (the final round)”, he said. The two men had both reached the front of the 14th hole, a 614-yard par-5, in two Friday night and had potential birdie opportunities as darkness fell. Theirs was as cordial a two-ball as will be seen all week. Jordan Spieth let it slip through his fingers.

A regulation birdie followed on the par five seventh, after Spieth had walked a full 200 yards up the fairway to remind himself of the green’s contours and been rewarded with a cry of “Cowboy up, Jordan” from a fellow American.

Sergio Garcia couldn’t keep up with his putter.

“It’s really unfortunate. We all want him back and back healthy more than anything”. He finished his round 5 under, five strokes back of Johnson.

“I deserve to get wet”, Johnson said, to no one in particular. He appeared to have a lock for birdie at 14, with just a chip shot to the flagstick.

(AP Photo/Jon Super). South Africa’ Louis Oosthuizen birdie putts on the ninth green during the final round at the British Open Golf Championship at the Old Course, St. Andrews, Scotland, Monday, July 20, 2015. At one point, while he was trying to cut through a concrete wall, the heat from steam pipes became too hot, so he took a fan from his cell and brought it with him, using electricity from the tunnel’s lights to power it.

“My coin was about to hit the ground when it took off”, he said. Then, after only 32 minutes of play Saturday morning, play was halted again by high winds. As Spieth noted later, “We’d have been better off putting in the dark”. This could not be foreseen at the time that play was restarted and made a material difference to the playability of the golf course.’.

“It felt like it played very easy out there”, Johnson said. “There’s a reasonable chance someone can go and overtake me and (Marc) Warren”.

“I didn’t think I was going to get the driver that far up there and it was an awkward little spot but I did well, (but) misread the putt”.

Quoteworthy: “I don’t know how many guys have done three majors in a year”. You should be able to play in 40mph winds.

A towering approach to the tricky 15th green set up another birdie chance, that was accepted with a pump of the fist.

None of it mattered to Johnson, who showed no interest in the debate.

However, he missed a six-footer for par on the treacherous 17th Road Hole and then, needing a birdie on the last, saw his long putt from the so-called Valley of Sin in front of the green, miss by inches.

When asked what kind of pressure he might feel should he stand on the precipice of an historic hat-trick, Spieth’s answer said everything about his current state of mind. “It is what it is”.