Spieth takes lead into the weekend

The turning point came at the par-four 16th, which Spieth played perfectly for a par four.

Spieth started his round at six under par, and that was good enough to give him a two-stroke lead when he woke up Saturday morning.

With a win Sunday, Spieth would become just the second player to notch three legs of the career grand slam before turning 24.

There were big question marks surrounding McIlroy’s form coming into the championship after he failed to make the cut on the links at either the Irish Open or the Scottish Open in the build-up to this week.

And now he is contending in a major championship again.

As if to only reinforce the idea that it wasn’t all carnage, Spieth went on a midround tear.

Garcia went on to bogey the hole and although he drove the green on the fifth to set up an eagle, he received treatment on the course and planned to undergo more later. When play restarted 25 minutes later, Spieth quickly added two birdies to get back to six under. But McIlroy made a double bogey on the 10th hole and was at 1 under.

Ian Poulter felt even worse. “On a Saturday with a lead in a major, that’s as good as I can ask for”.

Spieth still managed to extend his lead, as he shot one under on Friday to improve -6 on the tournament.

“There are low scores out there and people are not making mistakes”.

Even those odds — unusually long for McIlroy — looked way too short when the world No. 4 pulled his tee shot at the first, had a flier to the right of the green with his second shot, sent his chip shot through the green with his third, and two-putted for bogey. As he lined up to take his second shot on the par-5 hole, he attempted to launch a three-wood towards the green.

The Open 2017 enters the third day with the top three made up of U.S. and British players. It was probably my scariest putt of the day.

On day two a number of other ex-Open champions missed the cut. The game is now officially on for the world’s former No. 1 player.

And then one bogey led to another bogey. He said sometimes it helps not to know records.

That’s because what we’ve seen so far through two rounds on Royal Birkdale epitomizes the identity of this tournament.

The South African shot an 8-under-62 Saturday, the lowest score ever in a major championship.

Each of McIlroy’s three rounds have promised much but ultimately failed to deliver, notwithstanding the way he staged a back-nine rescue mission on Thursday after being five over through six holes. On Friday, he missed a 3-footer for par on the 16th hole, a putt he should have made and one you’d expect him to hole – especially given all the talk about how he makes everything.

This time, he was playing in front of thousands at the British Open.

When the 39-year-old Kuchar came off just after midday with a 71, it seemed he’d set a target at four-under that was rock solid.

“To make a putt in that amphitheatre was fantastic, and I hope I can walk up the 18th and do it (Sunday)”, he said. Spieth shot a “stress-free” (his words) five-under 65 and is 11 under for the week.

Norris finished several hours before Jordan Spieth and others on the leaderboard tee off.

“But I’ll stay loose, smile a lot, and that’s what I did today, and if I play the way I’ve been playing things will take care of themselves”.