Jordan Spieth Shoots Even Friday at British Open, Will Need Help in Chase for Second Claret Jug

The 2017 Open champ failed to match his under-par first round and is eight shots behind leader Brian Harman.

HOYLAKE, England — Around Royal Liverpool, avoiding bunkers is key and Jordan Spieth can attest to that as he found the sand more than he would have liked, and with it came bogeys and a disappointing even-par 71 in the second round of the British Open.

The three-time major winner didn’t find a bunker in Thursday’s first round and shot a 2-under 69—and that included a shank that went out of bounds, costing Spieth a double-bogey 6.

On Friday, the goal of shooting another 2 under proved not in the cards as Spieth didn’t miss a shot on the par 5s yet played them in even, which he called “really odd.”

“Just missed a couple putts around the turn on 9 and 10, and then second-guessed a couple lines, so I kind of felt like I lost a few on the greens that I had yesterday,” Spieth said. “I felt like I played as well or better than yesterday, needed to really post a score. I understand a lot can happen at an Open, but eight shots are a lot of shots to spot a player who's playing really well.”

With Brian Harman at 10-under-par, most of the field has a lot of work to do to catch the cagey lefthander. For Spieth, he believes the forecast of consistent rain will be a benefit to him since he played in the rain in two of his practice rounds, but would rather have no rain at all.

“Rain just brings a whole 'nother factor,” Spieth said. “You can hit a really nice shot and get water between the face and the ball and it's 30 yards right. It just happens. It's almost unpreventable in some cases. I think there will always be wind out here, so if I can post an under-par round each of the next two days, it might be enough.”

But ultimately, Harman is making the call. If he keeps his wits about him and doesn’t make any major pitfalls, he will control the destiny of the 151st Open Championship.

“I think we'll just have to look at what Brian will do, he's in control now, it's on him,” Spieth said. “I watched some of his round and he's made a ton of putts. He's chipped in, he's done what you need to around here, hitting fairways and greens, as well. That gives yourself those 20-footers, and you have enough of them, you're going to start holing them out here, and that's what he's doing.”