Sandwich: Louis Oosthuizen set a 36-hole record at the British Open and is halfway to ending that run of near misses at the majors.
Now all he has to do is hold off a cast of major champions on the weekend at Royal St. George’s. On a day of pleasant summer weather that took the fear out of the links off Sandwich Bay, Oosthuizen broke away from a three-way tie with a birdie-birdie-eagle run from the 12th hole. He shrugged off his first bogey of the week for a 5-under 65 and a two-stroke lead on Friday.
Former PGA champion Collin Morikawa had a 64 in the morning and was two shots behind. Another shot back was Jordan Spieth (67), going after his fourth major. Lurking was two-time major champion Dustin Johnson, the No. 1 player in the world who shot 65 and was tied for fourth, four strokes behind Oosthuizen.
“The game is good, but I know it’s a really good leaderboard,” Oosthuizen said.
“I’ll have to play good golf this weekend if I want to come out first.” Oosthuizen, looking as calm as the conditions, was at 11-under 129, breaking the 36-hole Open record first set by Nick Faldo in 1992 at Muirfield and matched by Brandt Snedeker in 2012 at Royal Lytham & St. Annes.
This will be the fifth time in the last nine rounds at a major that Oosthuizen, the 2010 Open champion at St. Andrews, has had at least a share of the lead. He was runner-up at the last two majors, to Phil Mickelson at the the PGA Championship in May and to Jon Rahm the U.S. Open last month. “I’m not really going to think about the second spots,” said Oosthuizen, when asked what he’ll do differently this time.
“I know my game is in a good place.” He’ll also be aware of the quality of player behind him, though.
Aditi finishes career-best third in LPGA
Midland: India’s Aditi Ashok and Thailand’s Pajaree Anannarukarn missed out on their maiden LPGA success but won a lot of praise after finishing Tied-3rd at the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational.
After three bogey-free rounds, the Indo-Thai duo called Spice Girls for the week, added a four-under 66 in better ball, which saw both bogey the final hole of the week. Yet their 19-under total fetched them a career-best third place finish behind, Thai sisters Ariya and Moriya Jutanugarn (24-under), who had a second 59 in the week, and the defending champion Cydney Clanton and Jasmine Suwannapura (21-under).
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