Rory McIlroy has taken command of the 143rd British Open at Hoylake with back to back 66s.
The Northern Irishman is at 12-under, with a four-shot lead over American Dustin Johnson, followed by a traffic jam at six-under.
McIlroy was simply superb, drving with distance and accuracy, while his approach shots and putting gave hin the complete package.
Veteran golf commentator Peter Alliss summed McIlroy up perfectly – “I want to be on what McIlroy’s taking”.
McIlroy started with a bogey overnight, then pealed off seven birdies, while everyone else, bar Johnson, was fighting the elements.
The big-hitting Johnson, who has been close to earning majors before, only to fall at the last hurdle, carded eight birdies in his 65 overnight, the lowest round of the tournament.
In a dramatic second round, world number one Adam Scott admitted he wasted many of his outstanding drives, and that was a “cardinal sin” He added he would have to tighten up if he’s going to bridge the gap.
Scott had to birdie the last two holes to card a one-over 73 to share equal 16th spot on the leaderboard with compatriot Marc Leishman – nine shots off the pace set by McIlroy – while four other Aussies also made the cut – Jason Day, John Senden, Matt Jones and Rhein Gibson.
But the biggest drama was Tiger Woods, who started his second round double bogey-bogey, then carded 14 straight pars before duck hooking his drive out of bounds at the 17th to triple bogey.
Woods had to birdie the 18th to make the cut, and that he did from off the green.
But there were plenty of heavies who did fail to make the cut, including two two-time British Open champions Padraig Harrington, and Ernie Els, Lee Westwood, Justin Leonard, Miguel Angel Jiminez, John Daly, David Duval, Webb Simpson, and Sir Nick Faldo.
With brutal weather forecast for tonight, organisers have dispensed with the two-man groups off the first tee, and opted for groups of three off the first and 10th tees starting at 9am local time.
McIlroy, Johnson, and Italian Francesco Molinari will be last off the first tee at 11.01, while Tiger Woods, Jordan Spieth, and Australian Rhein Gibson will be last off the 10th tee at 11.01 as well.
Smell a rat?
How can Woods, Speight, and Gibson, having scraped in smack on the cut at 2-over, have the same tee times, and the same weather conditions, as the leaders who are at 12, eight, and six under?
Especially for Woods.
Under normal circumstances, he would have been off around two hours earlier, now he has been given a late tee time, so he can have breakfast at the normal time, and prepare as though he was leading the toirnament, not 14 shots off the pace.
A far more realistic grouping for the Australians – Scott with Victor Dubuisson, and
Jimmy Walker, Leishman with Thomas Bjorn, and Edoardo Molinari, Day with Zach Johnson, and Kevin Na, Senden with Billy Hurley 111, and Chris Wood, while Jones has Brookes Koepka and Paul Casey,
And left until last because he deserves special recognition, the 64-year-old Tom Watson, a five-time winner of the British Open, who has carded 73, 73 to make the cut on the mark.
Tonight he teams up with Luke Donald and Matt Every and both will enjoy a career highlight with a legend.
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