What to Watch in Round 2 at St. Andrews: Wet Weather, More Rory, and Tiger's Battle to Make the Cut

A long, slow opening round at St. Andrews is in the books. Here's what to watch for in Round 2 on Friday.

Day 1 at St. Andrews offered its share of excitement. Here's what to watch for on Friday at the Old Course.

TigerWatch 2.0

Of course your TigerWatch is still on. And it will stay on as long as he keeps playing this week. That may not include the weekend after his dismal opening 78, 6 over par. This TigerWatch just turned into another heroic battle to make the cut against overwhelming odds.

How bad it is? Tiger is tied for 146th. He finished behind Dimitrius Papadatos and Zander Lombard, who shot 77s, and even worse, six strokes behind LIV Golf immigrant Phil Mickelson. Tiger’s score was better than only seven players, including ex-champs Darren Clarke, David Duval and Mark Calcavecchia. Even if he picks up six shots to get back to even, that number was only a tie for 55th in the opening round.

Reason for optimism: Tiger was 6 over through seven holes, so he played the last 11 holes in even par. Reason for pessimism: Tiger needed 35 putts and looked lost on some shortish putts he missed. When did the old Tiger miss those? The correct answer is, never when it mattered.

So if you want to soak in as much Tiger at the Old Course as you can, get on it Friday (4:58 a.m. ET tee time) because that may it be … forever? Some are speculating that if he’s out of contention for the weekend, Tiger may stop at the Swilcan Bridge and give the wave that means, Goodbye forever, Scotland and St. Andrews. But does that sound like something the Tiger Woods we know would do? Nope …

Fresh off a Thursday 66, Rory McIlroy will play Friday afternoon at St. Andrews / USA Today

Another Mac attack 

It was not a good omen for the field when Rory McIlroy lit it up in the opening round. He used to do that on a regular basis en route to winning his first four majors. This time, he had posted seven birdies, shot 66 and may just be the man to beat this week.

Wait, you’ve heard this before? At the PGA Championship in May, where at least one sit-at-home online blogger at a well-known fan-site proclaimed that Rory was definitely going to win by at least 10 shots. Well, he faded — Rory and the amateur writer.

Some reasons that might not happen again. Rory got what looks like the better half of the draw. The first 20 or so pairings Thursday got only light wind. The afternoon times had to battle gusty conditions. It is supposed to rain a bit Friday morning, possibly softening the course, and Rory is in the afternoon wave. Most of his majors have come in soft conditions and not too much wind. He is only two shots off the lead, held by Cameron Young, an impressive 25-year-old from Wake Forest University who missed the PGA Championship playoff by one shot. Young has yet to win on the PGA Tour.

Another reason for Rory is that he is putting better than at any time in his career. Maybe that’s due to working with putting great Brad Faxon or mental great Dr. Bob Rotella, but Rory ranks ninth in strokes gained: putting this season, a huge jump. That may be the difference-maker this weekend.

You Say Low, I Say Slow

An unnamed talking-head pundit on TV talked about how well the Old Course stood up to scoring in the opening round. The lowest score was “only a 64.” What a victory, that’s two whole shots off the Open Championship record. And it came despite the R&A sticking pins on crests and behind gnomes and next to piles of anti-matter. Maybe that’s an exaggeration, but Friday’s pins will possibly be easier, almost by default, and if the projected rains come through and the wind sags, well, a record score is still in play.

The assault on the Old Course came in the form of length. Six par 4s were drivable, including the storied 18th, which many players reached with — pause for effect — an iron.

The drought-firm fairways turned tee shots into bowling balls careening down the Dan Ryan Expressway, shortening the layout to pitch-and-putt terms for those who found the fairways,

It’s not the worst thing, it’s reality, and the lower the score at a major championship, historically, the better the winner. (You can look it up.) It’s the courses set up so difficult that nobody makes birdies that produces the oddball winners — Shaun Micheel at Oak Hill, Paul Lawrie (and almost Jean Van de Velde) at Carnoustie come to mind.

The unintended consequence of the Old Course’ shortness is the long-ness (OK, not really a word) of the rounds. Double greens, six reachable 4s, two reachable 5s all add up to, gee, nobody can tee off. The six-hour round made it tough to watch action at the Old Course, and even tougher for the players to endure.

U.S. Open champ Matt Fitzpatrick said, “It’s just ridiculous. It’s just disappointing it takes six hours to get around. That shouldn’t be happening.”

This may not be the place for this argument but whenever the LPGA Tour has a slow-play event and starts approaching six-hour rounds, male media critics go ballistic. When it’s the men who are playing rounds in 6 hours 10 minutes — about the length of time it would take to play 45 holes at a fine Scottish links such as, say, Dunbar — ohh, it’s not their fault. It’s the course.

Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t. And maybe the shotgun start and pace of play is one thing the LIV Golf folks happened to get right …

You Need Protection

There is no telecast like the Open Championship. My DVR knocked down 11 hours worth of golf on USA Network. Normally, that would be 11 episodes of “NCIS.” It all starts at 1:30 a.m. You’ve got to have your DVR in working order and set because at the Old Course, you’re going to see something you’ve never seen before during 11 hours. But you don’t know what, who or when. So you’ve gotta have backup.

For example, there was Tiger finding a fairway divot on the opening hole and one-bouncing his approach shot into the burn en route to a double bogey. There were eagles galore. And the shot of the day was Ian Poulter holing a 162-foot putt, the longest putt ever captured on television in a tournament. Poulter reacted to the moment by putting his hand atop his eyebrows and squinting, as if to say, “Did that one just bloody-well go in, chaps?” It bloody-well did.

What will Friday’s moment be? You’d better pay attention.

More British Open Coverage From SI.com/Morning Read

> Once Again, Rory McIlroy Out Fast In a Major With a 66 at the British Open
> Bryson DeChambeau's British Open Starts Safely, But Is His Future In Danger?
> Phil Mickelson, Asked to Not Participate in 150th British Open Celebrations, Still Enjoying the Week
> In His 20th British Open, Ian Poulter Starts Solid and Blocks Out the Noise
> 2022 British Open Day 1: Scores, Live Updates From the Old Course at St. Andrews
> Tiger Woods Shoots 78 To Start the British Open He Eagerly Awaited

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