In-form John Senden secured some weekend work at the British Open but fellow Australian Brendan Jones was facing an anxious wait to see if he’d made the halfway cut.
Senden, who collected a top-10 cheque at last month’s US Open before finishing fourth at the John Deere Classic, added a 71 to his first-round even-par 70 to be one over for the championship.
Senden was safely under the projected cut line, but Jones was precariously placed in a tie for 78th at three over after failing to capitalise on a promising start to his second round on Friday.
Jones, who opened with a 69 on Thursday, had climbed to equal 14th and to within four shots of the lead with a birdie two on the par-three first at Royal Lytham and St Annes.
But four hours and six bogeys later, plus just one more birdie on the 13th, and he was in the clubhouse nervously awaiting his fate after signing off for a 74.
“If I do happen to miss the cut, I’ll be disappointed,” Jones said.
“I’ve felt like I’ve played well enough to be here all four days.”
Jones’s slide began on the second when he missed the fairway and was unable to make par.
It was the first of half a dozen dropped shots for the round.
“There doesn’t seem to be a lot of wind out there, but this morning it was quite cold and the wind was into totally the opposite direction and made the first couple of holes really, really long,” he said.
“I’m not playing poorly. It just seems that every time I get to play these majors I just waste shots and the top players in the world don’t do that.”
Major rookie Nick Cullen was left lamenting a triple-bogey on the 18th on day one after almost certainly missing the cut on debut by just a shot or two.
The 23-year-old drained a 20-footer for birdie on the last in his second-round 71, but the damage had already been done a day earlier when he took three shots to get out of a bunker up the last.
“I’m not too far away,” said Cullen, who won this year’s Indonesia Open on the OneAsia Tour to earn his ticket to Lytham.
“This is where you want to be, four times a year, playing the majors, and playing events with all the top players in the world.”
Marcus Fraser was also poised for the chop after backing up his 71 with a 73 to be four over.
