A perfect Thursday gave way to a furious Friday as an Open Championship broke out at the Farmers, making things difficult for just about everyone except young Viktor Hovland, who braved those poor conditions and took over the 36-hole lead at Torrey Pines.
Hovland didn’t just survive the wind, rain and hail that hit the San Diego area, he thrived and shot an eye-opening seven-under par 65 on the tough South Course to get to nine-under par, good for the halfway lead.
Hovland, who is from Norway and is currently living in Stillwater, where he played college golf at Oklahoma State, wasn’t fazed by winds that gusted up to 20 miles per hour and some fast-moving storm fronts that first produced rain, then hail and stopped play around 3:30 p.m. for just under an hour.
“I think especially playing a tough course like the South Course, you can’t really fake it, especially in these conditions,” Hovland said after finishing with just a single bogey on his card. “Playing a hard golf course and then playing well, that I think is what gives me the ultimate kind of belief that I played really well today. You just can’t really fake it. But it’s another day tomorrow and we’ve got two more rounds left, so it’s definitely not going to roll over and give anything to you.”
Hovland knows he has a lot of work in front of him, especially given the player who is just a shot behind — Jon Rahm. Rahm has excelled in this event, he got his first win here in 2017 and lost by a shot to Marc Leishman last year. Rahm had an easier task as he played the North Course and finished with a five-under par 68 and Rahm was thankful he played on the easier track.
“Those fairways are narrow enough as it is. When you start adding the side wind, it’s just not fun,” Rahm said. “I can’t really stress how hard it can get,” he added. “North is easier. South today is brutal, I mean absolutely brutal. Every shot counts out there. Even being on the fairway some shots are not easy and with this wind and rain coming in and out, for those who played the North today, we should be really fortunate to play that course (North) today.”
Rahm has plenty of company at eight-under.
Adam Scott is a previous winner of this event and he turned in a nice 69 on the South Course to join the eight-under group. Tony Finau is once again in solid contention after a 67 on the North Course. Patrick Reed’s swing changes continue to pay off and his short game kept him in the hunt. He played through the brunt of the bad afternoon weather and finished with a South Course 70 while Ryan Palmer’s North Course 70 got him into the tie for second. Lanto Griffin had a good look at birdie on the ninth hole of the South Course, his final hole of the day. But he couldn’t get the 12-footer to fall and missed out on getting a share of the lead.
The cut came at one-under par. Phil Mickelson showed his skill and experience as he holed at 13-footer for birdie at the 17th to get back to even par, knowing he needed another at 18 to make the cut. After a poor drive, his layup left him 90 yards out. His third finished just outside 13 feet and he holed it for birdie to make it to the weekend.
The biggest name missing the cut was Brooks Koepka, who has missed three straight cuts for the first time in his career. He missed the cut at Mayakoba at the end of 2020, missed the cut last week at the American Express then once again played poorly this week. After an even par 72 on the South Course under perfect conditions on Thursday, he could do no better than 76 on the North Course Friday and didn’t come close to the cutline. He’s now officially in a slump.
Same for the ever-slumping Jordan Spieth. He went home early as did Jason Day.
