Brian Harman is pacing the field at Royal Liverpool.
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Rise and shine!
The second round of the Open Championship is underway across the pond. Much of of the morning wave is already on the back nine, and there’s been plenty of action at Hoylake already. Here are five things you missed while you were asleep Friday morning.
1. Bunker changes
The pesky pot bunkers at Royal Liverpool gave players fits in Round 1, so prior to the second round, big changes were made. Early Friday morning, the R&A announced it had adjusted the depth of many of the hazards around the course.
“We would like to advise you of an adjustment we have made to the way the bunkers are raked overnight,” the R&A said in a statement. “Yesterday afternoon the bunkers dried out more than we have seen in recent weeks and that led to more balls running straight up against the face than we would normally expect. We have therefore raked all of the bunkers slightly differently to take the sand up one revet on the face of the bunkers.”
With the bunkers raised slightly near the lips, we likely won’t see as many balls settle against the steep faces. In other words, don’t expect to see quite as many bunker fiascos as we did on Thursday.
2. Brian Harman is blazing hot
Royal Liverpool is far from an easy golf course, but Brian Harman is sure making it look that way. The left-hander got off to a blazing start Friday morning as he birdied four of his first five holes to race out to the solo lead. Harman has yet to drop a shot in his second round as he’s stretched the lead to three at eight under as he plays the back nine.
3. Stars are lurking
The first page of the leaderboard isn’t filled with the big names we might’ve expected, but the stars are lurking down the board. Rory McIlroy sits at two under mid-way through his second round as he’s carded a couple early birdies, while Viktor Hovland is right alongside him. Max Homa is one over thru 7 but still remains in striking distance, while Jordan Spieth will begin his day two under. With over half the tournament still to play, it’s far too early to count anyone out of it just yet.
4. Ace alert
The short par-3 17th is the newest hole at Hoylake, and it’s already making its mark in its first Open Championship. Lucas Herbert fell victim to the hole yesterday as he tumbled from the lead with a triple-bogey 6, while a number of others also struggled with the pint-sized par 3.
Thus far on Friday, the hole has been a bit kinder — and it even gave us our first ace of the championship, courtesy of Travis Smyth. The 28-year-old Aussie holed out from 132 yards with a nine iron toward the end of his second round, providing a bright spot in an otherwise forgettable Open Championship performance.
5. Cut line projections
We’re still early in the second round, but the cut line is already looming. With the top 70 players and ties qualifying for the weekend, two over is currently the target number — but that is likely to change. According to Data Golf, the cut line has a better than 50% of chance of jumping to three over by day’s end. There is a 25% chance the number stays at two over, and 18% chance it goes all the way to four over.
Zephyr Melton is an assistant editor for GOLF.com where he spends his days blogging, producing and editing. Prior to joining the team at GOLF, he attended the University of Texas followed by stops with the Texas Golf Association, Team USA, the Green Bay Packers and the PGA Tour. He assists on all things instruction and covers amateur and women’s golf. He can be reached at zephyr_melton@golf.com.
