The Open: Dustin Johnson not keen to revisit 2015 St Andrews collapse

By Sports Desk July 15, 2022

Dustin Johnson has no plans to revisit memories of his 2015 St Andrews collapse after taking the lead at the 150th Open Championship.

The former world number one shot a second-round 67 to move to nine under and top of the leaderboard.

Johnson conceded he was unlikely to remain at the summit come the end of the day, but he will be out to avoid a repeat of his weekend slump at the home of golf seven years ago.

Back then, the American held the 36-hole lead but carded consecutive 75s to fall well short, and he was not keen to dig that out of the memory bank following Friday's fine showing.

"To be honest, I don't even remember the third round from seven years ago," he said. "I've played a lot of golf since then, and that was a long time ago.

"Obviously any time playing in a major and playing golf courses, you learn stuff about yourself, but that was quite a while ago.

"I don't want to go back to it, obviously. It wasn't very good."

Johnson is now waiting to see how the weather will impact his strategy for the weekend as he eyes a third major and first Open title.

"Once I see what the wind direction is and we get the pins later, we kind of go through and map out a game plan," he said.

"It's all based on the wind how you attack the golf course and kind of where you hit it and where you want to hit it.

"I feel like I'm swinging well. Obviously, it's just avoiding the bunkers as much as possible. It's really hard not to hit it in one of the bunkers. I've been in three so far, and two of them I had to chip out sideways, and the other one I had a shot.

"If I can just keep out of the bunkers and just keep playing kind of smart golf where, when I have a good number and a club that I can get it close to the hole, I can be aggressive. But when not, just kind of hit it to 30, 40 feet and try to two-putt."

World number one Scottie Scheffler's 68 kept him within one of the lead, while Tyrrell Hatton's 66 also had him at eight under.

Adam Scott, playing alongside Johnson, signed for a 65 to seven under, with Rory McIlroy a further stroke back ahead of his 14:59 BST (local time) tee-off.

After early rain, conditions have been proving favourable for low scoring, but Tiger Woods was primed to miss the cut after moving to seven over through 15 holes on Friday.

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    "I feel like my swing is in a good spot, and I've hit it nice the last couple of days," he said. "A lot of quality stuff out there, and in a good spot going into the weekend."

    Morikawa is four shots off the pace after producing a superb eight-under 63, which was the best round of the day, and has surged up the standings to second place.

    In an impressive round, he dropped just one shot on the 11th hole, but made amends on the back nine before closing with back-to-back birdies. 

    "He's going to continue to make birdies," Morikawa said about the possibility of catching Scheffler. "He's driving it really, really well here, and you're giving yourself enough wedges to make some scoring opportunities out there.

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    Schauffele is in third, one shot behind compatriot Morikawa, after shooting an impressive second-round 64 to remain in the hunt for the $25million prize money. 

    There is then a four-shot gap until a group of three players, including Adam Scott, are tied for fourth place at 12 under, while Rory McIlroy is tied for 10th place on eight under.

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    Scheffler, also speaking to Sky Sports, said: "Yeah, I'm pleased with the day.

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