Holmes and Lowry hold 36-hole lead at Open Championship
Published: Last updated:
J.B. Holmes and Shane Lowry hold a share of the 36-hole lead heading in to the weekend at The Open as 11 players sit within three strokes
Shane Lowry posted a four-under 67 for the second day in a row to join J.B. Holmes at the top of the Open leaderboard after 36 holes.
Lowry was left playing catch-up as Holmes was quick to add to his overnight lead as he took advantage of the favourable morning conditions to post a three-under 68 and set the early clubhouse target of eight-under-par.
“It was a solid day,” Holmes said after his round. “Hit it well. Put the ball in the right spot. There were a couple of putts I left out there, but in general it was a good round.
“You can have that great round and then that day where everything goes right. But it’s nice to get two rounds in a row. It shows a little consistency. And two days in a row I’ve hit the ball really well and putted well.”
Holmes fended off early challenges from Jordan Spieth, Brooks Koepka and Tommy Fleetwood as he moved to nine-under-par after 13 holes, but he gave that shot back just a hole later to finish one shot clear of Fleetwood in the first wave of Friday’s pairings.
That number was quickly met and surpassed by a seemingly unstoppable Shane Lowry in the afternoon as he opened with four birdies in his first five holes before gaining the outright lead with his fifth birdie of the day on the eighth – much to the delight of the crowd.
“I think it was incredible right from the first hole,” Lowry said. “And even the crowd didn’t seem that big around the third green, but the roar at the putt was unbelievable. When I holed that putt on 10, that long one on 10, it was just incredible.”
Lowry extended his lead by two with a birdie on the 10th that moved him in double-figures for the first time this week, but he dropped his first shot of the day on 14 and failed to get up and down for a par at the last after skirting over the hole with his third.
Despite the disappointing end, Lowry was nothing but positive about his round – which totalled the lowest 36-hole score of his major career.
“If they had offered it to me at the start of the week I would have taken it. I’m really happy to be where I am. I really, really enjoyed today. There’s not too many days like that on the golf course. It’s hard to describe.
“I’m obviously going to be thinking about it tonight. There’s no point in shying away from it. I’m in a great position. But, my God, have we got a long way to go. There’s two rounds of golf on this golf course against the best field in the world.
“The one thing I have to do is go out, I keep saying the same thing all the time, I’ve been doing great in year, I shot 67 today. I need to go out and shoot the best score I can tomorrow, and hopefully it leaves me in a decent position on into Sunday.”
Last week’s PGA Tour winner Dyland Frittelli proved to be the main contender of the afternoon session as also he moved to eight-under after 15 holes, helped with three birdies in a row from the 10th.
But it all ended in disaster for Frittelli, who carded a double-bogey on the 17th after losing his ball from the tee, and followed it up with a final hole bogey to drop back to -5.
Fleetwood and Westwood sit on seven-under, with Cameron Smith, Justin Rose and Justin Harding a shot further back on -6.
Brooks Koepka and Jordan Spieth both finished on 5-under to end round two in a share of eighth place with Andrew Putnam and Frittelli.
