Brian Harman drained a 15-foot eagle putt on the final gap for an exclamation level on a bogey-free 65, catapulting him to a five-shot lead in the course of the second spherical of The 151st Open Championship on Friday in Hoylake, England.
Harman began the day one off the tempo at 4 below. He walked to the clubhouse 10-under 132 at Royal Liverpool Golf Club, which barely challenged Harman’s penchant for fairway-finding and clutch placing.
The lefty from Georgia zipped previous {one of the} first-round co-leaders, Englishman Tommy Fleetwood, who carded an even-par 71 on Friday afternoon to sit down in second place at 5 below.
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The course toughened up within the afternoon with windy, wet climate on the horizon this weekend, however Sepp Straka of Austria shot a 67 to maneuver into third place at 4 below and Australian Jason Day’s 67 obtained him right into a tie for fourth at 3 below.
Harman rolled in three lengthy birdie putts at Nos. 2-4, then hit the pin with an eagle chip on the par-5 fifth gap and tapped in a fourth straight birdie. Harman then saved 12 straight pars — together with a chip-in at No. 12 — earlier than driving the inexperienced in two on the par-5 18th.
“Made two really nice pars on 16 and 17,” Harman mentioned. “I think that’s just as important, to where I felt kind of freed up on 18, and I made probably my two best swings of the day and got up there to 12, 15 feet for eagle.”
Harman, 36, is trying to find his first main victory. He tied for sixth at The Open final 12 months at St Andrews and tied for second on the 2017 U.S. Open. He mentioned the important thing this time round will probably be to not get caught up within the second.
“It’s just golf,” Harman mentioned. “I’ve probably — I think when I held the 54-hole lead at the U.S. Open, I just probably thought about it too much. Just didn’t focus on getting sleep and eating right. So that would be my focus this weekend.”
After enjoying the entrance 9 1 over par, Fleetwood obtained a lift when a 58-foot putt at No. 10 dropped for his first birdie of the day. After a bogey-birdie-birdie-bogey stretch at Nos. 13-16, Fleetwood scrambled for par on the final two holes.
Fleetwood, who grew up 30 miles from the course, mentioned earlier this week that he’s envisioned profitable this main “a million times.” He can have the gang behind him Saturday when he performs with Harman within the closing pairing.
“He’s a long way in front,” Fleetwood mentioned. “Of course there’s a long way to go, but still, for myself and everybody else playing, it’s just do your thing, play one shot at a time.”
Straka got here out of nowhere late within the afternoon with a 5-under 31 on the again 9. The two-time PGA Tour winner birdied Nos. 12-15, made bogey at No. 16 and bounced again with birdie putts of 24 and 17 1/2 toes on the final two holes.
“Game is coming into shape nicely,” mentioned Straka, who received the John Deere Classic earlier this month. “I’ve been hitting the ball pretty well and then starting a couple weeks ago the putter came around, too, and hopefully I can keep that momentum going.”
Day, the previous World No. 1, was tied at 3 below with fellow Australian Min Woo Lee (68 Friday) and India’s Shubhankar Sharma (71).
Three-time main champ Jordan Spieth made three birdies going out and three bogeys coming in to wind up the place he began the day, 2 below for the championship. He was tied for seventh with Cameron Young (68), Spain’s Adrian Otaegui (73) and Emiliano Grillo of Argentina (74).
Grillo and South African newbie Christo Lamprecht, who shared the first-round lead with Fleetwood, went backwards. Lamprecht shot a 79 to fall to three over, making the lower on the quantity.
Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland birdied No. 18 for a 1-under 70 to climb to 1 below for the championship. In the identical group, Jon Rahm of Spain bogeyed the 18th, additionally turned in a 70 and sat at 2 over par.
The prime 70 and ties made the lower at 3 over par. World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler birdied the ultimate gap to salvage a 75 and make the lower on the quantity, together with the likes of Brooks Koepka, Rickie Fowler and Patrick Cantlay. Defending champion Cameron Smith of Australia landed his second shot at No. 18 simply 16 inches from the pin and tapped in for eagle to get to 2 over.
Notable gamers who missed the lower included Collin Morikawa (4 over), Tony Finau (6 over), Shane Lowry of Ireland (7 over), Phil Mickelson (9 over), Justin Thomas (11 over) and Dustin Johnson (13 over).
Australia’s Travis Smyth (8 over) received’t play the weekend, however he made the primary hole-in-one of the championship on the new par-3 seventeenth gap. With a 9-iron from 132 yards away, Smyth’s tee shot took one lengthy hop and rattled into the cup.