Cameron Smith of Australia. Photo / AP
Cameron Smith shot eight-under 64 in the second round of The Open Championship to take a two-stroke lead at 13 under overall.
The Australian opened the round with three straight birdies. He had two more before an eagle on the par-5 14th when he swung a long-range putt from right to left, slightly down the hill and straight into the cup.
Smith already won The Players Championship this year and has risen to as high as No 3 in the world. His eight-under 64 gave him his first lead in a major, by two shots over PGA Tour rookie Cameron Young. Rory McIlroy was lurking another shot behind.
"It's obviously a really good spot to be in," Smith said. "I feel like I've been in this spot a lot over the past couple of years, and things just haven't quite gone my way yet."
Smith is playing at his fifth British Open. His best finish was tied for 20th in 2019 at Portrush. His best results at the majors came at the Masters. He finished tied for second in 2020 and tied for third in 2022 at Augusta National.
Young overcame a few mistakes and closed with a birdie for a 69, putting him in the last group with Smith going into the weekend.
McIlroy got one of the loudest cheers with his 25-foot birdie on the tough Road Hole at the 17th. He missed a birdie chance on the 18th. Still, it was important for him to back up a great start (66) with a solid round (69).
He was tied with Viktor Hovland, who delivered his own thrills by holing out from 139 yards for eagle on the par-4 15th hole and finishing with a birdie for a 66.
McIlroy is trying to add his name to among the greats who have won an Open at St. Andrews. He has finished in the top 10 in the previous three majors this year. He won the Canadian Open last month. He feels he has been playing consistently well.
It would be easy to assume, given his experience in majors, that he's right where he wants to be. But that starts with Smith, who already this year took down the No 1 player (Jon Rahm) at Kapalua and the strongest field in golf at The Players Championship.
"I just need to go out and play my game and play my golf over the next two days and that's all I can do," McIlroy said. "Cam Smith goes out and shoots another two rounds like he did the first two days, I'm going to have a really hard time to win the tournament. So I've just got to go out and do the best I can and worry about myself and hopefully that's good enough."
Collin Morikawa became the first defending champion to miss the cut since Darren Clarke in 2012.
Kiwis Ryan Fox and Ben Campbell both failed to make the cut after the second round.
The world number 48 Fox couldn't back up his solid day one as he struggled to a three-over 75 on his second round, which featured one birdie, two bogeys and a double bogey, to end the tournament on two-over.
Campbell finished one stroke better on one-over, narrowly missing the even par cut line. He shot a one-under 71 on his second round.
Golf's breakaway bunch have turned, it seems, into a band of brothers.
The rebels who have created a major rift in the world of golf by defecting to the Saudi-funded Liv series are working together for a common cause at the British Open this week.
"Everybody, it feels like, is against us," said Talor Gooch, one of the 24 Liv golfers playing at St. Andrews. "And that's OK. It's kind of banded us together, I think."
That 24 has been whittled down to an 11-strong group who will play the weekend at the home of golf.
Five were sitting in the top 20 after the second round Friday. Two were in the top 10. One, possibly the biggest fish in Liv's pool in Dustin Johnson, is in fifth place and four shots off the lead.
There remains a distinct possibility — much to the chagrin of the R&A, no doubt — that a player from the Liv tour could be lifting the claret jug on Sunday evening.
The prospect was put to Martin Slumbers, the R&A chief executive, on the eve of the event and he said he would "welcome them onto the 18th green." Yet minutes earlier, Slumbers had delivered a withering verdict on the breakaway tour, describing it as a money grab that threatens golf's merit-based culture cultivated over centuries.
Such has been the R&A's desire to stop the Liv saga from disrupting the 150th British Open that the tour's CEO, Greg Norman, was told to not attend the pre-tournament dinner at St. Andrews for past champions. Norman is a two-winner winner. Phil Mickelson, the 2013 champion and now a Liv player, also didn't attend the dinner, saying the R&A told him the club didn't think it was a good idea he went.
Liv players weren't put up for official pre-tournament media duties, either.
But the story is casting something of a shadow over the event. There have been noticeable jeers for Ian Poulter, another of the defectors, as he hit his opening tee shots in both of his rounds — even if he claimed to not have heard them. Random barbs have been heard from the galleries about the enormous sums of money taken by players to leave both the PGA Tour and the European tour.
Johnson said he has been able to put any negativity and criticism to one side.
"I don't read. I don't look at it," the former No 1 said. "It doesn't bother me because, obviously, everyone has their own opinion and I have mine, and the only one I care about is mine."
Another Liv player, Lee Westwood, chose to blame the media for "stoking up" the matter, which has shone a light on Saudi Arabia's attempts to improve its image through sportswashing.
"I think the general public just want to go out there and see good golf," Westwood said, "no matter where it's being played or who's playing it."
Johnson, who shot five-under 67 to move to nine under for the week, is contending at a major for the first time this year.
Gooch is the other Liv player in the top 10 — he is tied for eighth at seven under — as he looks to improve on his best finish in seven previous appearances at a major, a tie for 14th at the Masters in April.
Also in the top 20 was Sadom Kaewkanjana, who was tied for 12th at six under, and both Westwood and Abraham Ancer, a further stroke back in a tie for 18th.
The fact that a quarter of the top 20 are Liv players might be used by the rebel series to push its status as a tour of some repute, as opposed to a rich man's playground for the unmotivated or those past their best.
"The credentials of everyone speaks for themselves," Gooch said. "It's obviously cool for me to see other guys that are out there playing well.
"We've caught a lot of flak for what we've done here recently. I think one thing that cannot be questioned is the quality of players that are there."
Among the other Liv players making the weekend were Sergio Garcia, Poulter and Reed, who is wearing a Liv-branded cap this week.
Mickelson was the most high-profile Liv player to miss the cut after shooting 77 to finish at five over for the week.
- with AP
Two playoff holes were needed to decide the event, with Alker settling for second.