Australian Smith hits the front as emotional Woods bows out

ST ANDREWS: Australian Cameron Smith made a fast start to lead the British Open midway through the second round as Tiger Woods’ challenge fizzled out meekly at St Andrews on Friday.

Smith picked up five birdies on the front nine to get to 10 under par, a shot ahead of Americans Dustin Johnson and overnight leader Cameron Young.

World number one Scottie Scheffler was another stroke back alongside Briton Tyrrell Hatton.

Woods needed a huge improvement on his opening 78 to make the cut at the venue of two of his three Open titles.

The American 15-times major champion, continuing his comeback from serious injuries sustained in a car crash last year, flickered into life with a birdie at the third before two bogeys quickly halted his momentum.

He played steadily on the back nine until finding a bunker on the 16th and the ensuing double-bogey took the 46-year-old to nine over par, ending any faint hopes he had of returning at the weekend.

Woods received a standing ovation from the galleries as he walked up the 18th fairway before he missed a short birdie putt to complete a round of 75 that left him tied for 150th place in the 156-man field.

“It’s very emotional for me,” Woods told reporters. “I’ve been coming here since 1995. I think the next one comes around in 2030 and I don’t know if I will be physically able to play by then.

“My two-day play is I made my share of mistakes,” he added. “Struggled again today to get the feel of the greens.”

Twice major champion Johnson, who recently defected to the breakaway LIV series, shot a composed 67, recovering from a bogey at the first to ride a hot putter and make six birdies.

“I thought I played really nicely, just drove it well, hit a lot of quality iron shots, gave myself a lot of looks at birdie,” Johnson told reporters. “Obviously, if you look at the history of the tournament, it’s a trophy I would love to have in the office when I’m done with my golf career.”

Johnson, who quit the PGA Tour last month to join the controversial Saudi-backed series, will be hoping to avoid any repeat of the last Open at St Andrews in 2015, when he led at the halfway stage on 10-under but a third-round 75 ended his hopes of victory.

“To be honest, I don’t even remember the third round from seven years ago. I’ve played a lot of golf since then, and that was a long time ago,” he insisted before claiming he was oblivious to criticism of the LIV rebels.

“I don’t read anything. So I wouldn’t know what you were saying or if there was anything negative being said. I don’t pay attention to it.”

Scheffler also bogeyed the first but soon rediscovered his usual smooth rhythm to conjure up four birdies around the turn before signing for a second successive 68.

“Yesterday, I played pretty fantastic to shoot four-under,” he said. “It was playing so difficult yesterday in the afternoon. This morning it was tough getting started.”

Young, who started with a superb 64 on his Open debut, dropped a shot at the first before picking up two birdies to revive his challenge.

Hatton moved into contention with a flawless round of 66 to finish one ahead of Americans Talor Gooch, Patrick Cantlay and Sahith Theegala, and Australian Adam Scott, the former Masters champion who tore up the Old Course with a sparkling 65.

“We’ve caught a lot of flak for what we’ve done here recently,” said Gooch when asked about the performances of his fellow LIV players. “I think one thing that cannot be questioned is the quality of players that are there.”

There are 24 players from the LIV series in St Andrews this week, and the landmark staging of the world’s oldest golf tournament has to some extent been overshadowed by the new tour, which R&A chief executive Martin Slumbers blasted for being “entirely driven by money”.

LIV offers prize money of $25 million for each 54-hole event, compared to a $14 million prize pot for this week’s Open.

Rory McIlroy, who came into the week as the favourite, sat in second place overnight after an opening 66.

The Northern Irishman, Open champion at Hoylake in 2014, started his second round at 2:59pm (1359 GMT) on Friday.

US Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick, playing with Woods, shot a 66 to move to six-under overall.