With a Tiger on his tail and more dangers ahead, Adam Scott said turning the British Open into a head-to-head shootout with American Brandt Snedeker could prove fatal.
Scott, seeking his long overdue maiden major, carded an impressive three-under-par 67 to trail leader Snedeker at the halfway point at Royal Lytham and St Annes.
Snedeker’s record-equalling 64 thrust the 31-year-old to 10-under – the lowest 36-hole total in British Open history – with Scott just one back and three clear of Tiger Woods.
Ominously, though, Woods holed out from a greenside bunker on the last hole of his second round to log his second successive 67 and narrow the gap on the leaders and jump one in front of little-known Dane Thorbjorn Olesen (66).
The 14-times major winner has never failed to convert on golf’s biggest stages after opening with two rounds in the 60s.
Classy Northern Irishman Graeme McDowell (69), fellow major champion Paul Lawrie (71), Americans Matt Kuchar (67) and Jason Dufner (66) and South African Thomas Aiken (68) were all four-under and also within striking distance.
“I don’t think I should get into match play with only Brandt,” Scott said after gathering four birdies in his last 12 holes and icing his second round with a delightful nine iron to five foot on the 18th.
“Look at the names that are five and six shots back. It’s a world-class leaderboard, stacked up a few shots back, and I think no matter what the conditions are one of those guys is going to have a good day and make up ground.
“So we certainly have our work cut out, Brandt and myself, to stay ahead of that pack.”
Feeling in complete control of his game, striking the ball as sweet as ever but putting with confidence like never before, steely-eyed Scott said it was “not just a fluke” he was in the think of contention at a major for the first time.
“It’s kind of a culmination of everything I’ve done over the last couple of years,” he said.
“I feel like this is the path I’ve been going down and just happens to have happened here that I’ve put myself in good position after two days at a major – and first time at the Open in this kind of position going into the weekend.
“It’s been close all year. There have been lots of good rounds and a few times just the one every week that kind of sets me back.
“So getting off to the good start was important, but I think it’s just the practice adds up and eventually pays off.
So supremely confident in his game is Scott – who has finished in the top-10 in three of the past six majors – that he was convinced he was playing superior now to even when he romped to a go-to-whoa victory at last year’s prestigious WGC Bridgestone Invitational in the US.
“Things have felt better for me this week leading in,” he said.
“I felt my game was good. When I went to Bridgestone last year I was a little shaky, I was a little off with my game and somehow it just turned around out there.
“But I felt really good coming in here. I played well at AT&T, my last outing, and I had really good days on the range before I came up here.
“I hit the ball well in all my practice rounds and got a good feel for the course. So I felt very confident coming in here.”
