Another fairway for Harman

New York Times

3 days ago

World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler took The 2025 Open Championship by storm on Friday at Royal Portrush, with a stunning round of 64 Getty Images
The second round of the 2025 Open Championship at Royal Portrush saw world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler grab the lead with Matt Fitzpatrick one shot back.
Scheffler finished Friday at 10-under after he added a brilliant round of 64 to his opening 68, while Fitzpatrick has now shot scores of 67 and 66.
Former champion Brian Harman and Haotong Li are two shots back, with Harman going round in 65 today, while Li shot a 67.
Local favorite Rory McIlroy (-3) is still in the mix after shooting a 2-under 69, with 33 players under par heading into the weekend. Share your views: [e-mail]
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Open Championship 2025 Round 2: What to know as Scottie Scheffler takes the lead Getty Images
Harman -7, McNealy E, Niemann E (14)
Brian Harman is feeling it with the driver. He's definitely not the longest hitter in the field, but the American is finding the fairway. That's a critical ingredient for success at Royal Portrush.
Harman fires a 297-yard tee shot on the par-4 15th landing in the middle of the fairway. He has 106 yards to the pin. Can he add another birdie to his scorecard? Getty Images
Harman -7, McNealy E, Niemann E (14)
A solid par-4 14th for the solo leader at Brian Harman. Land the ball in the fairway after a 295-yard tee shot? Check. Put the approach shot 28 feet from the pin on the green? Check.
The only thing the American didn't do was sink his birdie putt, which moved to the left of the cup. Harman settled for par, along with Maverick McNealy and Joaquin Niemann.
The 2023 Open champion heads to the 15th hole with a one-shot lead. Getty Images
J.Smith E, Li -5, D.Johnson +2 (2)
The group containing Haotong Li is now out on the course, and Li has made a good start.
He had a look at a tricky birdie chance on the first before settling for his par. Then on the second, it's a similar opportunity for eagle — and this miss is more than enough to set up a quick birdie, moving Li to 5-under.
He remains the only player out there without a bogey this week.
Steady starts with his playing partners, Jordan Smith and Dustin Johnson.
Plenty of disappointing days.
English amateur Sebastian Cave made four successive bogeys 11 through 14 but finished with three pars and a birdie in his 77, +11 overall.
Scotsman Connor Graham is a shot ahead. He had two birdies and a bogey after eight holes but imploded on the back nine, five bogeys giving him a 79 today.
The beautiful swing of Adam Scott wasn't enough to save the Australian, at +9 after a frustrating 79 that saw him tumble more than 100 places down the leaderboard.
Bryson DeChambeau and Louis Oosthuizen are 2-under for today but are still at +5 and +4, respectively, and all of the above will do very well to avoid the cut.
Any other movers and shakers? Viktor Hovland, Thriston Lawrence, Matt Wallace and Cameron Adam are 2-under today, even overall, with Ludvig Åberg and Englishman Harry Hall 3-under today, -1.
They should all make the cut, but will need a few more birdies to really challenge the leaders. Getty Images
McIlroy -1, Thomas E, Fleetwood -2 (10)
Rory McIlroy ranks 15th in driving distance in this tournament. He ranks 155th for driving accuracy.
He could certainly use a straight shot on the par-5 11th, which is actually a par-4 for members and played as the hardest hole on the course back in 2019.
The driver is back out of the bag … and it's not bad. McIlroy misses the fairway but is in the semi-rough 300 yards down there.
MacIntyre -3, DeChambeau +5, Rose E (11)
Utter carnage at the 11th for Justin Rose. He leaks wide right off the tee, finds a bush that none of us would want in our gardens, and we have the rare event of an actual lost ball — or at least lots of people spending several minutes trying to find it.
He has to reload from the tee, also pulls his fourth shot right into the native and from there it's just a lot of medicine; finishing with a triple-bogey 7 and returning to even for the championship.
And to think, Rose had only bogeyed one hole all week before that.
Bryson DeChambeau's hopes of making the cut also take a punch with a bogey 5, but at least Bobby MacIntyre survived to preserve his clean round of 3-under so far today. Getty Images
Harman -7, McNealy E, Niemann E (13)
It's the Brian Harman show at Royal Portrush. The American, who won the 2023 Open at Hoylake, just knocked in a 15-footer for birdie at the 13th to move to 7 under. It is Harman's fifth birdie of the day.
Maverick McNealy went the opposite direction on No. 13, bogeying after missing a 4-foot putt for par.
Chilean Joaquin Niemann also dropped a shot on the par-3 13th after his 213-yard tee shot landed over the green and he missed the 11-foot par putt. Getty Images
McIlroy -1, Thomas E, Fleetwood -2 (10)
The green on Himalayas, the 10th hole, is long and narrow and a very difficult one to attack. Rory McIlroy, Justin Thomas and Tommy Fleetwood were all in a good spot following their tee shots, but all struggled with their approaches.
Fleetwood's landed at the front of the green to leave a monster putt whilst McIlroy's screwed off the slope that runs away from the pin, which threw it way over the left. Again, it's going to be a big and fairly unrealistic putt for birdie.
Thomas missed the green altogether, ending up in the rough off the back.
McIlroy actually does very well with his putt, reading it perfectly and almost sinking it for the most unlikely of birdies. But it stops a couple of revolutions short. All three settle for par.
Højgaard -4, Bezuidenhout -3, Langasque -2 (15)
Further damage for Rasmus Højgaard on the 15th, who goes back-to-back with bogeys after three-putting. That will puncture the mood.
He's still a couple up on the day, but momentum has just poked him on the shoulder and given him a scare.
Indeed, playing partner Romain Langasque is now just two shots behind him — the Frenchman birdied the 15th to make it 4 shots picked up in his back nine alone, and with three more holes to play. Getty Images
McIlroy -1, Thomas E, Fleetwood -2 (9)
Well, this is a rarity: All three of this group find the fairway with their tee shot.
(Tommy Fleetwood's might actually have run through and ended up about an inch or two into the first cut, but I'm just gonna go ahead and ignore that.)
Rory McIlroy once again elected to leave the big stick in the bag. I wonder if we'll see it again today. Getty Images
McIlroy -1, Thomas E, Fleetwood -2 (9)
That was a serious bit of luck for Rory McIlroy. His tee shot was left of left only to come to rest in a patch of grass that had been stamped down by spectators. From there he did well to hoist one to the back of the green and, one good lag putt later, he was able to roll home a tiddler to escape with par.
Tommy Fleetwood missed the green with his second shot but got up and down to make par. Justin Thomas missed his birdie putt and ended up with the same score.
They head to the back nine and Fleetwood, who was the furthest back in this group at the start of the day, now leads the way. Getty Images
Bradley -3, Im -1, Berger E (15)
Keegan Bradley has another one, this time with a birdie at 15 — taking him to 3-under and he is going as well today as anyone.
He's sneaking up on the leaders right now, the little in-from sneak.
A note for Sungjae Im too, who is 1-under for his day, 1-under for his championship and in the midst of 14 pars from his 15 holes today. Mr Consistent. Getty Images
Højgaard -5, Bezuidenhout -3, Langasque -1 (14)
The 14th continues to play as the hardest hole around Royal Portrush — at yet it feels like a rather unnecessary bogey-5 for Rasmus Højgaard, simply from getting sucked right on his approach and then not gobbling up enough yardage on his chip.
He misses his par putt from six feet and that's enough to drop him back down to 5-under, leaving Brian Harman in the sole lead.
A real shame after his successive birdies.
McIlroy -1, Thomas E, Fleetwood -2 (8)
Rory McIlroy reaches for the fairway wood after watching Justin Thomas and Tommy Fleetwood hit good shots on the ninth. Thomas is down the left of the fairway and Fleetwood is in the first cut down the right.
But, despite clubbing down, McIlroy just cannot stop hitting it left off the tee. And I mean really left, with his ball clearing the first strip of juicy rough and landing in a trampled down area that fans have been standing on.
He may have caught a break there. Another few feet and his ball would have flown straight into a shrub and that would have been another penalty drop. Getty Images
English -5, N.Taylor +5, Finau -2 (7)
Harris English is excelling on the par-5s so far this week and he does it again at the seventh, getting back to 5-under within a shot of the leading duo — although it was previously enough for the outright lead when English reached the dizzy heights after No. 2. Getty Images
With a third birdie on his front nine, Bryson DeChambeau has gone out in 33 and reached 4-over.
The most likely cut line is at 2-over, so he must continue to push — but after a miserable Thursday, the two-time U.S. Open champ at least has a chance. Getty Images
McIlroy -1, Thomas E, Fleetwood -2 (8)
Ryder Cup buddies Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood are both safely aboard the dance floor with their second shots. And the former in particular has a really good look at birdie.
Justin Thomas has to lay up. But he then sticks his wedge from the front of the green to within 4ft and he'll hope to save par.
Fleetwood up first … He races it 4ft past. McIlroy then misreads slightly, with his ball quickly moving from left to right and leaving a tap in for par. Thomas and Fleetwood tidy up and we move on to the ninth, Tavern.
MacIntyre -3, DeChambeau +4, Rose -3 (9)
Good news from the ninth, as Justin Rose finally gets back to 3-under with a neat birdie.
Credit to Bryson DeChambeau too, who also claws a shot back here. That's now 3-under for his front nine today and among the best second rounds so far.
At 4-over and with a favorable run, he could yet make the cut. Getty Images
Harman -6, McNealy -1, Niemann E (10)
The shots are getting chipped away now at the top. Brian Harman swiftly joins Rasmus Højgaard at 6-under after a birdie at No. 10, with Tyrrell Hatton now alone in third on -5 behind the pair.
Harman up to 4-under for his second round. Marc Leishman's 68 remains the pick of today's 18.