The wind looks like it blew a few vowels into Louis Oosthuizen’s name, but it didn’t stop him from running away and hiding with the lead in the 150th Open Championship. In the early morning Oosthuizen fired a 67 for a 12-under 132 aggregate, four clear of Rory McIlroy, whose late afternoon round was interrupted by high winds for 65 minutes. 1989 Open Champion Mark Calcavecchia, (whose victory was at St. Andrews), also shot 67. He stands alone in third place at 7-under.
Four players are at 6 under, including Englishman Paul Casey and Lee Westwood, who were nicely tucked in to fish and chips by the time Tiger Woods teed off. Woods hit forty minutes worth of stingers on the range, then bogeyed the first two holes to drop to 3-under.
The R&A announced that the delay will require some players to finish early Saturday. Apparently the media tent and hospitality were creaking and swaying in the maelstrom, while balls were “oscillating” on 7 and 11. It was so bad pre-eminent sports writer Art Spander joked that it was Auntie Em’s storm, and Dan Jenkins joked that it knocked over a glass of port in the R&A tent.
***Update*** McIlroy just bogeyed to drop to 7-under.***
