Louis Oosthuizen of South Africa set a new Open Championship 36-hole scoring record with an 11-under 129, cruising past Collin Morikawa and Jordan Spieth on Saturday (NZ time) for the second-round lead at Royal St. George's in Kent, England.
Building on a first-round 64 to begin play atop the leaderboard, Oosthuizen carded a five-under 65 with four birdies and an eagle. He missed a birdie putt on the 18th hole for a 128, which would have tied the 36-hole record across all majors.
The previous Open record of 130 was held by Nick Faldo (1992) and Brandt Snedeker (2012).
Oosthuizen captured the outright lead with a birdie-birdie-eagle stretch on holes 12 through 14. He spun his approach on the 12th to two feet of the pin for the first of two birdies. On the par-five 14th, he played two flawless shots to reach the green and then sank a lengthy eagle putt. He remained bogey-free for the first 33 holes until a missed par putt Friday at the par-3 16th hole.
It's the fifth time in the past nine major rounds that Oosthuizen earned at least a share of the lead. That includes temporary leads at both the PGA Championship and the U.S. Open -- where he finished runner-up each time.
Elsewhere, Kiwi Ryan Fox is seven shots behind Oosthuizen at four-under after his first two rounds.
For the second successive round, Fox carded a two-under 68, with his second round containing five birdies, as well as one bogey, and a double bogey on the par four fifth hole.
Fox shares 17th with the likes of Brandt Snedeker, Danny Willett and Shane Lowry, still on track for his best-ever finish at a major (16th equal).
"I played really good today," Fox said afterwards." I drove it the best I've driven it probably all year, gave myself lots of chances and converted a few putts.
While Fox lamented a double bogey on the fifth hole, he's happy to be in contention.
"Just keep doing what I'm doing," Fox says of his focus for round three. "I feel pretty comfortable with every part of my game at the moment.
"Try to keep it in play as uch as i can stay out of the long stuff and hopefully my putter continues to work."
Fellow Kiwi Daniel Hillier missed the cut after his second round of one-over. The 22-year-old carded a two-over in his first round, to sit at three-over and miss the cut by two shots as The Open Championship heads into the third round.
Reuters/Newshub.
