Thriston Lawrence was in a share of 11th on Friday after a second round of one-under-par 70 at Royal Liverpool in the 151st Open Championship.
It as a solid effort by South Africa’s top-ranked golfer on a day when there were some low scores ahead of predicted bad weather during the third round, but nothing of real significance to take someone clear of a bunched field – except, of course, the six-under-par 65 from American Brian Harman which lifted him to 10-under for the championship.
Harman was five strokes clear of Tommy Fleetwood, who had a level-par 71 to move to five-under. Fleetwood, in turn, was a shot clear of Austria’s Sepp Straka in third after he carded a four-under-par 67.
Just ahead of Lawrence were the likes of Jason Day, Min Woo Lee, Jordan Spieth and Cameron Young. He was in a share of 11th with former champions Stewart Cink and Henrik Stenson, Americans Max Homa and US Open champion Wyndham Clark, and the biggest gun of all, Rory McIlroy.
To make the cut as well as Lawrence did – the number was four-over – was impressive, particularly as the likes of Collin Morikawa, Justin Rose, Talor Gooch, Shane Lowry, Justin Thomas and Dustin Johnson all missed making it into the weekend.
Also missing out were Lawrence’s compatriots Charl Schwartzel, Ockie Strydom, Ernie Els, Branden Grace, Martin Rohwer and Kyle Barker.
Louis Oosthuizen, the 2010 Open champion, made it past the cut with a second-round 70, as did Christiaan Bezuidenhout with a level-par 71.
Lanky South African amateur Christo Lamprecht, the Amateur champion, who extraordinarily led the tournament, came back to earth with a bump as he carded a second-round 79 to make the cut on the number. As the only amateur to make the cut, he is assured of winning the silver medal for the leading amateur. He will be the first South African to do so.
