Ryan Fox has snuck through to the weekend at The 147th Open Championship, but Michael Hendry will be returning home after a challenging day at Carnoustie.
It wasn’t a typical round for Fox, who shot an even-par 71 after starting with 10 straight pars until his lone birdie at the 11th. From there, it was a nervous wait for #FoxTracker fans as the projected cutline stayed at two-over par. A costly error on the 17th dropped Fox outside the cutline, however he was able to finish with a remarkable par on 18 to give himself a chance of making the cut.
It took three long hours before the cutline finally pushed out to three-over par and Fox was able to enjoy his dinner.
“I played a lot better than yesterday, but it was a pretty stressful finish after making bogey on 17,” said Fox.
“It was a nervous wait for us all, but I’m just happy to get another chance tomorrow to try climb my way up the leaderboard.”
Playing in the morning group behind Tiger Woods, there was no shortage of galleries for Fox. Their side of the draw certainly got the more challenging of the conditions and Fox will be hoping for a change of luck on Saturday when he is paired with former US PGA champion Jason Dufner (10.05am local time, 9.05pm NZST).
The lack of links golf preparation seemed to hurt Hendry and he was unable to get things going on Friday. He carded a round of seven-over 78 to end his championship at nine-over par.
It was a good day for some of the marquee names to produce an exciting leaderboard entering the third round. Americans Zach Johnson and Kevin Kisner lead the way at six-under par, but it was the injection of Tommy Fleetwood, Rickie Fowler and Rory McIlroy who lifted the Carnoustie crowd. Fleetwood carded the round of the day with six birdies and no bogeys in the tough morning conditions for his six-under 65 to sit one stroke off the lead at five under.