Shiv Kapur set to make cut
20 July 2013 5:52 AM IST
After a stunning start in the tournament, ace India golfer Shiv Kapur found the going tough as he returned with eight bogeys and two birdies in the second round but was still set to make the cut in the 142nd Open Championships on Friday. Kapur returned for a six-over 77 in the second round and at three-over for two rounds, he is expected to stay for the weekend. He will be somewhere in the upper half of the pack after the cut is made. He was tied for 39th after his round and the cut looked likely at five or six-over.
Kapur will become only the fourth Indian after Jyoti Randhawa (2004), Anirban Lahiri (2012) and Jeev Milkha Singh (2012) to make the cut at the British Open. Only Jeev has made the cut at the other three Majors, too.
Kapur, who had stunned the golfing world with six birdies in first seven holes, saw the other side, the cruel one of the Majors, as he was four-over after six. ‘Today the wind was totally opposite. So when you’re standing on the tees you’re trying go to figure out, it’s a lot of guesswork,’ he said.
‘For example on the 9th hole today I’ve hit 3-iron off the tee. I’ve hit 3-iron, 6-iron. And yesterday I’ve hit driver, 2-iron, 8-iron, you know. So it’s completely a different golf course,’ said Kapur of the conditions.
Yet, instead of simply melting down as many do, Kapur just hung on grimly.He managed birdies on ninth and 12th, but also gave away bogeys on 10th and 13th. But, he was still four-over for the day and one-over for the tournament, when he came to the par-five 17th, but a bogey-bogey finish set him back.
Zach Johnson leads US charge
Zach Johnson took a one shot lead into the second round of British Open at Muirfield on Friday, heading a strong American challenge, with 11 out of the 20 players under par from across the Atlantic.
The 2007 Masters champion topped the putting figures on Thursday with just 26 taken, including a monster effort for eagle at the par-five fifth which set up the springboard for his round of five under 66.
Hard on his heels came veteran compatriots and former Open champions Mark O’Meara (67) and Tom Lehman (68), while tournament favourites Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson were tied on 69.
Asked why American golfers were doing so well on what is the most traditional of British links courses, Johnson said it could be the uniqueness of the event. ‘Maybe they have the same kind of mentality I have. I’m staying with a buddy and my caddie. We’re just having a good week,’ he said.
If the Americans were thriving, the same could not be said for some of the big European names like Rory McIlroy who had a 79 and Luke Donald, who slumped to an 80 and who were both facing an uphill battle just to make the cut.
Former world number one McIlroy, mired in a season-long form slump brought on by an equipment change, described his state of mind out on the course on Thursday as being ‘unconscious’ and ‘brain-dead’.
He said he needed to throw off the shackles that were holding him back. ‘I want to try to be here for the weekend. But the thing that I need to do tomorrow is just go out there and freewheel it and try and make birdies and try and play with that little bit of whatever it is I have usually,’ he said.
Kapur will become only the fourth Indian after Jyoti Randhawa (2004), Anirban Lahiri (2012) and Jeev Milkha Singh (2012) to make the cut at the British Open. Only Jeev has made the cut at the other three Majors, too.
Kapur, who had stunned the golfing world with six birdies in first seven holes, saw the other side, the cruel one of the Majors, as he was four-over after six. ‘Today the wind was totally opposite. So when you’re standing on the tees you’re trying go to figure out, it’s a lot of guesswork,’ he said.
‘For example on the 9th hole today I’ve hit 3-iron off the tee. I’ve hit 3-iron, 6-iron. And yesterday I’ve hit driver, 2-iron, 8-iron, you know. So it’s completely a different golf course,’ said Kapur of the conditions.
Yet, instead of simply melting down as many do, Kapur just hung on grimly.He managed birdies on ninth and 12th, but also gave away bogeys on 10th and 13th. But, he was still four-over for the day and one-over for the tournament, when he came to the par-five 17th, but a bogey-bogey finish set him back.
Zach Johnson leads US charge
Zach Johnson took a one shot lead into the second round of British Open at Muirfield on Friday, heading a strong American challenge, with 11 out of the 20 players under par from across the Atlantic.
The 2007 Masters champion topped the putting figures on Thursday with just 26 taken, including a monster effort for eagle at the par-five fifth which set up the springboard for his round of five under 66.
Hard on his heels came veteran compatriots and former Open champions Mark O’Meara (67) and Tom Lehman (68), while tournament favourites Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson were tied on 69.
Asked why American golfers were doing so well on what is the most traditional of British links courses, Johnson said it could be the uniqueness of the event. ‘Maybe they have the same kind of mentality I have. I’m staying with a buddy and my caddie. We’re just having a good week,’ he said.
If the Americans were thriving, the same could not be said for some of the big European names like Rory McIlroy who had a 79 and Luke Donald, who slumped to an 80 and who were both facing an uphill battle just to make the cut.
Former world number one McIlroy, mired in a season-long form slump brought on by an equipment change, described his state of mind out on the course on Thursday as being ‘unconscious’ and ‘brain-dead’.
He said he needed to throw off the shackles that were holding him back. ‘I want to try to be here for the weekend. But the thing that I need to do tomorrow is just go out there and freewheel it and try and make birdies and try and play with that little bit of whatever it is I have usually,’ he said.
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