Nick Faldo ended his Open career in some style on Friday, making a birdie on the 17th, the tough Road Hole, and then drawing huge applause from the massive galleries and grandstand lining the first and the 18th holes of the Old Course.
And it just seemed appropriate that when the former world No 1 was soaking up the adulation with his arms held aloft on the Swilcan Bridge, the man who has a chance to become the new world No 1 if he wins this week, Jordan Spieth, was on the adjacent first green.
The 21-year-old American, and his group, stopped play and were seen clapping for Faldo, who pulled on the same jumper that he wore on the Sunday of his 1987 Open win in Muirfield before climbing up the Swilcan Bridge.
Faldo, who had opened with an 83 on Thursday, later revealed he almost did not play after a freak injury.
The six-time major champion was taking off his shirt after the round, when his hand struck a deer head mounted on the wall, and the antler caused a deep cut in the middle finger of his right hand.
He went to the hospital on Friday morning, and forced himself to the first tee on the insistence of his kids.
“I’ve had a bit of a roller coaster day. This morning my cut was open again, so I went back to the hospital and had it glued again and I didn’t know what I wanted to do,” said Faldo.
– Open: Johnson takes early lead with 7 under
– #360LIVE: The Open – Leaderboard, updates & videos
– The Open: Sport360’s interactive course guide
“Then the kids looked at me and said, dad, what are we doing? They said you should go. When your kids say you’re going, you’re going. That was the goal of the week. The goal was to stand on the bridge and get the picture.”
Despite the heavy torrential overnight rain that forced play to be suspended for three hours and 14 minutes in the morning, R&A chief executive Peter Dawson is expecting the Championship to conclude on schedule on Sunday evening.
Hundreds of maintenance staff, assembled from the six courses that are part of the St Andrews Links Trust, and BIGGA (The British and International Greenkeepers Association), put up brilliant show to return the golf course to playable condition so soon after a storm-front dumped 19mm water over the course in just over an hour.
Justin Rose rushes up to join Faldo on the Swilcan Bridge. Rickie Fowler looks on sheepishly before they coax him up. pic.twitter.com/qMsSo3Xc2N
— Alex Perry (@AlexPerryESPN) July 17, 2015
When rain finally stopped, there were large puddles of water, especially on the first, second, 17th and 18th holes. An army of maintenance staff taking out the water with squeezies was an impressive sight indeed.
The third round on Saturday, to commence after the conclusion of the spillover of the second round, will be played as a three-ball, but from a single tee.
Dawson said: “Our target is to finish on Sunday. We do have the ability to go into Monday (last Open to have a Monday-finish was 1998 at Lytham) but we certainly hope not to.”
High wind is again forecast for today, although there should not be much rain.
