ST. ANDREWS, Scotland — Weather was the story Friday at the 144th British Open Championship.
A three-hour weather delay kept the course clear; and, when play resumed, damp and windy conditions created the type of challenges golfers have come to expect at this event.
The first-round leader Dustin Johnson began play Friday at 5:48 p.m. local time (12:48 p.m. ET) alongside Jordan Spieth, who is bidding to claim a third consecutive major victory. Because of the delayed start, 42 golfers remained on the course when darkness ended play for the day.
Johnson, who shot a 65 in the first round, birdied three of his first nine holes Friday to move to 10-under. He played 13 holes before play was suspended. He remained at 10-under, one stroke ahead of England’s Danny Willett.
Spieth had two bogeys and three birdies on the front nine and walked off the course at 5-under. They and the rest will finish their round Saturday morning.
Willett shot a 3-under 69 Friday to take the early lead at 9-under. He made bogeys on No. 15 and No. 17 before finishing with a birdie. The top amateur in 2013 had a T-13 finish in the 2013 Open. Willett shot 66 in the first round.
“It’s a childhood dream,” Willett said of his brief lead. “Looking at the leaderboard, it’s still a little bit surreal.”
Zach Johnson, the only player to make the cut in the past eight Open Championships, shot a 71 Friday after an opening 66 to join a group at 7-under.
Adam Scott (67) and Marc Warren (69) also finished the second round at 7-under.
The last time four golfers finished the second round with a cumulative score of 7-under or better was 2006, when seven players did it. From 2008 to 2014, just five golfers carded 7-under or better through the first two rounds, according to ESPN.
Charl Schwartzel had four birdies and one bogey through 10 holes and was at 8-under.
Tom Watson, 65, shot an 80 — just the second time in 129 rounds at the Open that he had failed to break 80. He posed for pictures on the bridge on the 18th hole and was cheered by the few hundred fans who remained as he walked up the fairway.
Tiger Woods was at 5-over through 11 holes and was expected to miss the cut for the third time in his past four majors.
Earlier, Ireland’s Paul Dunne described the British Open as like a “zoo” after blazing a trail for the amateurs with a second successive round of 69 to put himself in contention.
The 22-year-old’s 138 total for 36 holes equalled the record of England’s Justin Rose at Royal Birkdale in 1998 and South Korea’s Jin Jeong at St Andrews in 2010.
It also put him on the first page of the leaderboard, rubbing shoulders with the likes of 2010 champion Louis Oosthuizen and former Masters winner Zach Johnson.
“In terms of why amateurs are doing well, I’d say if you put an amateur tournament on around here, people will be shooting scores to be up there on the leaderboard,” Dunne told reporters.
“Maybe not up at the top, but certainly around top 20. But it’s just hard when the atmosphere is like this. It’s kind of like a zoo out there.
“Amateurs are well capable of shooting the scores needed to do well, it’s just about controlling your emotions when you’re out there, not letting it get to you.”
Dunne made just one bogey in a measured round containing four birdies and at six under is now favourite for the silver medal awarded to the best amateur, although American Jordan Niebrugge also impressed again with a 73 to lie four under.
“That would be brilliant,” Dunne, who studies at the University of Alabama, said.
“It would be nice to get the silver medal, my last year as an amateur. It would be something I would remember forever.”
“But there’s a lot of golf and a lot of bad weather to play in before that.”
NOTES: When Zach Johnson arrived at the Old Course on Friday morning, with rain pouring and the first and 18th fairways flooded, he hoped there would be a delay. But he thought it highly unlikely because golfers “expect brutal conditions at times” at the British Open. There was a delay, however, and Johnson then shot a 1-under 71 for a two-day total of 7-under 137. “I feel I played just as well as Thursday (he shot 66), but I had two three-putts. Thursday I putted great. … Danny Willett, in second place when the second round was suspended, is from Yorkshire, England. “I’ve been told several times no Yorkshire man has won the Open,” said Willett, who was the Ohio Valley Conference freshman of the year in 2006 at Jacksonville State. … Phil Mickelson bogeyed two of the final four holes, finished with a 72 after a 70 Thursday and refused to do any interviews. … Padraig Harrington, a two-time Open champion, awoke at 5 a.m. local time for a 7:38 tee time, went to the practice range and was caught in the downpour that flooded the course. “This is the Open,” said Harrington, an Irishman, “and I thought we were going to play. But unfortunately the town of St. Andrews drained onto the first fairway.”