Westwood is left to rue missed chances (From The Northern Echo)

Westwood is left to rue missed chances

9:43am Saturday 17th July 2010 in

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FOR the second successive day Lee Westwood was left to rue what might have been after a round of 17 pars and just one birdie in the 139th Open at St Andrews.

That score of 71 improved his position slightly, moving up to six under, but unlike on Thursday the weather could well do the world number three a favour.

With afternoon winds approaching gusts of 40 miles per hour it appeared unlikely many players would post scores to go past him.

‘‘It was pretty easy for the first six or seven holes but the wind picked up on the back nine and it is tricky with a crosswind to get the ball close to the hole,’’ said Westwood.

‘‘I made 17 pars and one birdie and didn’t get as much out of my round as I should have – as was the case yesterday.

‘‘Then I shot a 67 and it should have been a 64 and today I shot 71 and it should have been a 66.

‘‘I felt I hit quite a lot of good putts which didn’t go in.

It tests your patience.

‘‘I three-putted 18 for the second successive day but you learn to get used to those things as a golfer because they happen quite a lot.

‘‘It is a mental battle as well as a physical battle. But I’ll be in a good position for the weekend.’’ Former champion Paul Lawrie, meanwhile, feels the ‘‘brutal’’ conditions in the second round have already had a significant impact on the outcome of the tournament.

The 1999 Claret Jug winner began the day three under, six behind overnight leader Rory McIlroy, but crashed out after 40mph winds blew the players off the course.

Lawrie signed for an 82 – his worst round in his 18 Open appearances – to finish seven over.

‘‘It was a tough day and I can’t ever remember an Open – apart from the third round at Muirfield in 2002 – which was worse,’’ said the Scot.

‘‘Yesterday I don’t think I could have had it any easier and today I couldn’t have had it any tougher – it was brutal.

‘‘I thought it was unplayable three or four holes before they stopped it but I’m not the guy who makes the decision.

‘‘We were on the seventh green and you couldn’t stop the ball there.

‘‘The first couple of holes after the restart were better but the last four or five were pretty much the same.

‘‘The Open is always the luck of the draw and this week will prove that.’’ Paul Casey is still hoping for glory tomorrow despite becoming another victim of the Road Hole 17th at St Andrews.

Casey goes into the weekend on six under par after a second successive 69, but seven of those strokes came at the Home of Golf’s most terrifying stretch of land.

After going to the turn in a superb 31 and climbing to third place, the 32-year-old drove into rough so bad that he did not move the ball with his attempted hack out.

The next was just a chop back on to the fairway and after coming up short of the green with his fourth shot he three-putted.

‘‘There’s got to be some penalty for going left – that’s what this golf course has always been about,’’ said Casey.

‘‘But that’s the thickest rough on the golf course and I would just like it thinned out.

‘‘It wasn’t a great tee shot and when I got down there I was just trying to go sideways.

There was no way of going forward.

‘‘I wanted to go straight sideways, but couldn’t go at it too hard because if it came out I could end up in Room 312.’’

Leaderboard

(Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 72): Cut projected at 145

Note: Second round play suspended due to darkness and there are 10 groups still to complete, Second round restarts at 6.30am.

132 Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 65 67

137 Mark Calcavecchia (USA) 70 67

138 Paul Casey 69 69, Lee Westwood 67 71

139 Peter Hanson (Swe) 66 73, Ricky Barnes (USA) 68 71, Sean O’Hair (USA) 67 72, Retief Goosen (Rsa) 69 70, Graeme McDowell 71 68, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 72 67, Tom Lehman (USA) 71 68

140 Nick Watney (USA) 67 73, Robert Karlsson (Swe) 69 71, Tiger Woods (USA) 67 73, Martin Kaymer (Ger) 69 71, Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 69 71, Toru Taniguchi (Jpn) 70 70

141 Ryo Ishikawa (Jpn) 68 73, Dustin Johnson (USA) 69 72, Vijay Singh (Fij) 68 73, Shane Lowry 68 73, Y.E.

Yang (Kor) 67 74

142 Adam Scott (Aus) 72 70, Jeff Overton (USA) 73 69, Sergio Garcia (Spa) 71 71, Marcel Siem (Ger) 67 75, Alvaro Quiros (Spa) 72 70, John Daly (USA) 66 76, Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 68 74, Bradley Dredge 66 76

143 Rory McIlroy 63 80, Lucas Glover (USA) 67 76, Andrew Coltart 66 77, Camilo Villegas (Col) 68 75, Simon Khan 74 69

144 Phil Mickelson (USA) 73 71, Kevin Na (USA) 70 74, Thomas Aiken (Rsa) 71 73, Robert Allenby (Aus) 69 75, John Senden (Aus) 68 76, Marc Leishman (Aus) 73 71, Ian Poulter 71 73, Stewart Cink (USA) 70 74, Simon Dyson 69 75, Peter Senior (Aus) 73 71

145 Steve Stricker (USA) 71 74, Colm Moriarty 72 73, Ross Fisher 68 77, Colin Montgomerie 74 71, Heath Slocum (USA) 71 74, Hunter Mahan (USA) 69 76, Steve Marino (USA) 69 76, Luke Donald 73 72, Scott Verplank (USA) 72 73, Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 69 76

146 Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 72 74, Hirofumi Miyase (Jpn) 71 75, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 71 75, Zach Johnson (USA) 72 74, Richard S Johnson (Swe) 73 73, Robert Rock 68 78, Rickie Fowler (USA) 79 67, Danny Chia (Mal) 69 77

147 Justin Rose 70 77, Thomas Bjorn (Den) 70 77, Oliver Wilson 68 79, Bubba Watson (USA) 74 73, Eric Chun (Kor) 71 76

148 Seung-yul Noh (Kor) 72 76, Tom Watson (USA) 73 75, Gareth Maybin 72 76, Rhys Davies 73 75, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Spa) 72 76, Ben Crane (USA) 72 76, Ryuichi Oda (Jpn) 76 72, Ernie Els (Rsa) 69 79, Ross McGowan 68 80

149 D.A. Points (USA) 72 77, Todd Hamilton (USA) 72 77, Angel Cabrera (Arg) 73 76, Ben Curtis (USA) 76 73, Jason Bohn (USA) 75 74

150 Koumei Oda (Jpn) 74 76, Geoff Ogilvy (Aus) 72 78, Hiroyuki Fujita (Jpn) 75 75, Justin Leonard (USA) 76 74, Jim Furyk (USA) 77 73, Paul Goydos (USA) 74 76, Bill Haas (USA) 73 77, Yuta Ikeda (Jpn) 72 78, K J Choi (Kor) 76 74, Padraig Harrington 73 77

151 Francesco Molinari (Ita) 74 77, Anders Hansen (Den) 77 74,

Soren Hansen (Den) 72 79, Jean Hugo (Rsa) 76 75, Tim Petrovic (USA) 71 80, Paul Lawrie 69 82, Loren Roberts (USA) 73 78, Tim Clark (Rsa) 71 80, Sandy Lyle 75 76 152 Paul Streeter 76 76, Shunsuke Sonoda (Jpn) 74 78, Josh Cunliffe (Rsa) 75 77, Kurt Barnes (Aus) 75 77, Darren Fichardt (Rsa) 74 78

153 Katsumasa Miyamoto (Jpn) 77 76, Sir Nick Faldo 72 81, Alexander Noren (Swe) 73 80, Mathew Goggin (Aus) 74 79, Victor Dubuisson (Fra) 80 73

154 Jerry Kelly (USA) 79 75, Ryan Moore (USA) 70 84, Thomas Levet (Fra) 73 81

155 Tyrrell Hatton 78 77, George McNeill (USA) 78 77, Jason Dufner (USA) 73 82, Brian Gay (USA) 72 83, David Duval (USA) 77 78, Jae-bum Park (Kor) 76 79, Jose Manuel Lara (Spa) 80 75

156 Gary Clark 79 77

157 Martin Laird 74 83, Glen Day (USA) 78 79 160 Laurie Canter 81 79

165 Simon Edwards (USA) 79 86