Saturday TEE TIMES 154th Open Championship...

     DP World/PGA Tours : 154th Open Championship   Leaderboard Tee Times

Saturday morning has dawned over Royal Birkdale in Southport, the cut fell at +1, the pairings have been re grouped and are available above, the weather is the same, sunny. no rain, light morning breeze, getting up to 16km/h NW.

After all the Golf Channel over the top DeChambeau I won't play coverage, the petulant, self centered brat of course sent out a bedtime retraction and is in the field.

After the amazing 62's by Lucas Herbert, and quiet Sam Burns, the leaderboard (above) is set on Moving Day with lots of storylines. 

Lucas 1st at -8, with Jackson Suber standing tall T2 at -6 along with Cam Young and Ryan Gerard.

The -5s are DeChambeau, Burns and Kim, a whack of -4's include Tommy, Rahmbo and Scheffler.

Tommy set everyone in the UK, particularly Southport into ecstasy with his birdie barrage to finish with it all to play for, Scheffler will get all the US attention, Rory disappointing at -1 will have to make his run, Scotland's Bob MacIntyre -4 has his legions.

With little wind, sparse rough we all know what to expect but I will say Royal Birkdale with no howling wind to protect her has only given up 8 shot to par, a tribute all things considered.

The weather and therefore the course, has let everyone who made the cut a chance to go low. The worse the weather usually separates the men from the boys, but to my point who expected Lucas Herbert to set a record score of 28, from out of nowhere.

Canadians : Corey Conners T25 71 67 -2  Nick Taylor 38, 68 71 -1

Past winners on Royal Birkdale, I thought you'd like this list:

1954 Peter Thomson, 1961 Arnie Palmer, 1965 Peter Thomson, 1971 Lee Trevino, 1976 Johnny Miller, 

1983 Tom Watson, 1991 Ian Baker Finch, 1998 Mark O'Meara, 2008 Paddy Harrington, 2017 Jordan Spieth.

Notables missing the cut..

Justin Rose 75 68, Wyndham Clark 73 70, Viktor Hovland 70 74, Jason Day 71 73, Matt Fitzpatrick 72 72, Tom Kim 70 73, Aaron Rai 71 71, Jordan Spieth 73 77.....

Play got underway at 910am local, 410am est

Bryan Angus

DeChambeau penalty overshadowing stunning Friday at 154th Open Championship..

 Bryson DeChambeau was assessed a two-stroke penalty for inadvertently improving his lie during the second round of The 154th Open.

The American originally made a bogey at the par four fifth. He drove his ball right off the tee into the penalty area but deemed it to be playable and was seen taking practice swings and walking back and forth near his ball before hitting it out long of the green. 

He failed to get up and down and believed he had made a five. He subsequently made birdies at the ninth, 11, 17th and 18th, before being informed of the penalty after the round.

As a result of the penalty, DeChambeau will begin the third round at Royal Birkdale at -5, three shots adrift of 36-hole leader Lucas Herbert.

In a statement, Grant Moir, R&A Executive Director, Governance, said: "Bryson has been penalised two strokes for inadvertently improving the area of his intended swing, so intended backswing on the fifth hole when he was playing his second shot.

"Ruling 8.1 restricts what a player may do to improve any of the protected conditions affecting the stroke, and this includes the area of the player's intended swing. So an improvement means to alter one or more of the conditions affecting the stroke so that the player gains a potential advantage for the stroke. Now, I'll stress that this applies even when the action is accidental, as it was in Bryson's case."

EDIT >>>>OPINION

The Golf Channel has had the 36 hole coverage. Their producers gave due coverage of the 5th hole DeChambeau incident and his childish quip, I'm not a cheat, I will boycott this event tomorrow but refused to leave it alone, staying with coverage of DeChambeau and his team hitting shots on the range in the dark, waiting for any statement  whether he would show up to play on Saturday.

His immature and petulant remark in anger, and despite practicing until dark was enough to keep the entire channel waiting for his retraction, which was an embarrassing mistake especially at the Open Championship.

The panel did not cover any of the day's action, interviewing officials, staff like Brandel Chamblee with their opinions, veteran and loyal host Rich Lerner insisting "this is incredible, a never before incident in Open Championship history".

Of course later he went on social media to announce he would be playing, after Todd Lewis and the panel had left and the lights turned off.

europeantour.com

Bryan Angus (edit)

Aussie Lucas Hebert 62 stuns 154th Open Championship...36 hole results . Conners/ Taylor make cut

   DP World/PGA Tours : 154th Open Championship   Leaderboard Tee Times

Lucas Herbert holds a two-shot lead at The 154th Open after he and Sam Burns matched the lowest round in Major Championship history during an enthralling second round at Royal Birkdale.

The Australian appeared set to become the first man to card a 61 in one of golf’s four marquee events, but he missed a five-foot par putt on the last.

Remarkably, just twenty minutes or so later, American Burns holed out from a greenside bunker to also record an -8 round of 62.

Herbert and Burns joined South Africa's Branden Grace as the only player to shoot a 62 at the Open, which also came at Royal Birkdale in 2017.

American trio Jackson Suber, who held the lead after the first round, Cameron Young and Ryan Gerard are in a group two shots adrift of Herbert at -6

Bryson DeChambeau appeared to have played his way into the final group on Saturday but he was assessed a two-shot penalty for inadvertently improving the area of his intended swing ahead of his second shot at the fifth hole.

As a result, it meant the American carded a second-round 68 which moved him to -5 in a share of fifth place alongside countryman Burns and South Korea's Si Woo Kim.

Earlier in the day, in relatively benign conditions, on a course playing firm and fast, Herbert covered the front nine in just 28 strokes, equalling Denis Durnian’s 1983 Open record, to get to -6 and came home in 33.

"I'm absolutely disappointed, and at the same time, so proud of today," said Herbert.

"Very, very proud to put my name on that list of guys that have shot 62 in a major championship.

"So it's kind of holding two emotions there at the same time. It's a tricky one, and I'm sure once the dust settles, I'll be able to sort of decompress it a little bit."

Burns, who began his day at +3, took the opposite route to his bogey-free 62.

Runner-up at last month’s U.S. Open, he birdied the second and fourth, before finding incredible form on the back nine as he made six birdies to come home in 30.

"I didn't know 62 was the record. I had no idea," said Burns.

He later admitted to just being happy to be in the field at Birkdale after making a late decision to make the trip to Merseyside after the birth of his second child, Belle, earlier this month.

"I thought there was zero per cent chance of playing," said Burns.

"My agent said 'I'm going to sign you up just in case', but I thought I was probably not going to be able to play.

"Then we ended up having her on July 3. Even then, I still wasn't expecting to play by any means. I had a bunch of conversations with my wife, and she encouraged me to come over and play, and here we are."

Links newcomer Suber, who is playing for the first time this week in Europe, followed up a 65 with a creditable 69.

World Number 3, Young, who won this year's Players Championship and finished second at The Open in 2022, is also chasing a first major triumph and birdied his final two holes in a 67.

That was the same score Gerard as he mixed five birdies with two bogeys to continue his impressive debut appearance at the final men's major of the year.

English trio Tommy Fleetwood, Matt Wallace and Alex Fitzpatrick are in a nine-strong group of players at -4 alongside Scottie Scheffler, 2018 Open champion Francesco Molinari, two-time major winner Jon Rahm, Scotland's Robert MacIntyre, Belgium's Thomas Detry and Bud Cauley of the United States.

The cut fell at +1, with major champions Aaron Rai, Matt Fitzpatrick, Wyndham Clark and Cameron Smith among some of the notables to miss out on the weekend.

edit>>>Canadians : Corey Conners T25 72 67 -2,   Nick Taylor T38 68 71 -1 both made the cut.

europeantour.com

Bryan Angus (edit)

Friday morning underway 154th Open Championship ..Live scoreboard

DP World/PGA Tours : 154th Open Championship   Leaderboard Tee Times

• Leaderboard

Yesterday the early wave had the best of the conditions, benign, fresh cut unspiked greens and the scoring reflected that with the two early 66's standing up all day until an unknown American playing in the UK on links for the first time no less, Jackson Suber shot -5 65 to grab the lead..

It was warm and sunny all day, record English crowds basking in all kinds of headwear enjoying an unusually dry summer, that has burnt the rough down in all but the worst places, to wispy and brown.

Expect more of the same today, but remember the players flip their tee times, with the lates now out early.

In this part of the world play can begin at 635am with the sun setting closer to 10pm, so for the first 36 holes before the cut, it is a very long day for officials, fans and the field. 

Nick  Taylor wins Sony Open

Canadian tee times

Corey Conners 7.52am  71 +1

Nick Taylor T14  3.26pm  68 -2

The early cut line is projected to be at +1

more to follow...

Bryan Angus 4.00am est

What happened to Rory ? !!

 Rory McIlroy is hopeful he can play his way back into contention at The 154th Open after he was left ruing “stupid mistakes” in his first round at Royal Birkdale.

The Northern Irishman was uncharacteristically out of sorts as he ran up six bogeys - including on both the par fives - in what were the toughest conditions of the day.

While a closing birdie provided reason for hope, he was seven shots behind surprise first-round leader Jackson Suber.

“There were just too many stupid mistakes – but every time I made a stupid mistake, thankfully I made a birdie to sort of keep myself in it,” he said.

“I’m not too far away. If you look at the discrepancy between the scoring this morning and the scoring this afternoon, it looks like that’s going to be flipped tomorrow with the conditions again.

“Hopefully I can take advantage of the more benign conditions in the morning and shoot one under par and get back in it.”

The career Grand Slam winner carded a closing 64 at last week’s Genesis Scottish Open but he cut a frustrated figure as he faced the toughest conditions of the day.

McIlroy missed three putts from inside four feet – at the seventh, eighth and tenth – either side of driving the green at the ninth to make a birdie.​

Back-to-back bogeys at the start of the back nine halted any momentum before a 25-foot putt dropped in off the left edge at the 13th for just his second birdie of the day.

After he chipped through the green and into a bunker at the par five 17th, he was forced to splash out with one knee on the ground but couldn’t convert the par putt from eight feet.

However, a brilliant approach at the last gave him something to hold onto.

“I drove the ball incredibly well," he reflected.

"I took the golf course on off the tee. Obviously with the positions that I put myself in off the tee, I feel like I obviously should have shot a better score.

“Played the hard holes well. Birdied 13, 15 and 18 on the back.

“The two bogeys on the par fives wasn't great and I struggled the first two holes to get the speed of the greens.”

edit >>>> Friday 10.09am:   Rory McIlroy 72 +2, Matt Fitzpatrick 72 +2, Xander Schauffele 71 +1

europeantour.com

Bryan Angus (edit)

Mac Hughes T3 Corales Puntacana Championship

 DP World/PGA Tours : Corales Puntacana Championship Entry List

Canadians 

Mac Hughes T3rd  -6 66

AJ Ewart T29  -3 69

Ben Silverman T47 -2 70

Adam Hadwin T105  +1 73

Taylor Pendrith T105 +1 73

Adam Svensson T129 +3 75

Leaders

Todd Clements (England), Ivan Cantero (Spain) -7 65

Bryan Angus

Unheralded American Suber leads 154th Open Championship..Taylor top Canadian ..Friday TEE TIMES

 DP World/PGA Tours ; Open Championship   

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Unheralded American Jackson Suber made light of having no links experience to hold the solo lead after day one of The 154th Open at Royal Birkdale.

Suber is this week competing on European soil for the first time after securing a debut at golf’s oldest championship by finishing tied fourth at the RBC Canadian Open on the PGA TOUR last month.

In just his third career Major Championship appearance, the World Number 115 surged to the summit in what were the tougher afternoon conditions at the sun-baked Southport venue with a -5 65.

England’s Dan Brown and South Korea’s Sungjae Im, playing together in the benign morning conditions on day one, were then one shot off the lead.

Without a win on the PGA TOUR, Suber arrived in England on the back of three top tens in his last six starts.

After opening with four straight pars, he mixed two birdies with two bogeys in a topsy-turvy finish to his front nine to hit the turn at level par.

Suber picked up another gain at the 16th, before producing an excellent second shot to set up a seven-foot eagle putt which he converted to hit the top of the leaderboard.

"Things just really started going after the birdie on the tenth," he said. "I just felt like the momentum was really in my favour. Just kind of kept the ball in good spots and didn't put much pressure on my game to make pars.

"This is my fifth day here. Monday was my first round of links golf, so I've played 27 holes before I played the first round today. I've never been to the UK

Asked what he put his immediate adjustment to the test posed by links golf, he added: "I'm not really sure, but I feel like I've just been playing good the last few months and just knowing that good golf is going to take care of everything, and really trusting my caddie to figure out where we're going to hit it.""

Brown announced himself on the world stage at this event when he finished tied tenth after holding the first-round solo lead on debut at Royal Troon two years ago. 

Very nice day," he said. "Tee to green, it's similar to how I've been playing recently.  But today a few putts dropped, which was nice to see because I've not seen that for a while.

"I think it's just a fair golf course. There's not too many humps and undulations in the fairway, so if you hit a good shot, generally it stays in the fairway, which I like.

There were then nine players two shots off the lead at -3  including 2018 Open champion Francesco Molinari, Scottish star Robert MacIntyre, two-time U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau, this year’s Players Championship winner Cameron Young and Belgian Thomas Detry all with -3 67.

Defending champion and World Number One Scottie Scheffler was four under through six holes but stalled with several badly missed putts, and settled for a -2 68, while Rory McIlroy struggled on the greens as he opened with a +2 72.

EDIT>>> Canadians, Nick Taylor T13 68 -2, Corey Conners T60 71 +1

europeantour.com

Bryan Angus (edit)