Red-hot Danny Willett keeps the pressure on America’s high flyers

Dustin Johnson did not manage 18 holes but he showed enough in a second round cut short by fading light to stay just out in front in The 144th Open Championship last night at St Andrews.

The 18-hole frontrunner will have slept on the lead for the second night in row but after a rain-soaked morning that delayed play for three hours yesterday, Johnson was due to resume his second round this morning at 7am with five holes still to play.

The American who infamously has failed repeatedly to finish the job in the majors after getting himself into winning positions, most recently at last month’s US Open, is 10 under par, a shot ahead of 36-hole clubhouse leader Danny Willett of England and significantly four ahead of Jordan Spieth, the man who pounced when Johnson faltered at Chambers Bay to win his second major in succession.

Masters and US Open champion Spieth had started his second round trailing playing partner Johnson by two shots but that gap has now doubled after the 21-year-old’s normally immaculate putting began to show signs of mortality on an increasingly windy late afternoon and evening at the Old Course.

Johnson was happy to have got as much golf in as he did, carding three birdies on his front nine of 33 and another at the 10th to reach 11 under before a missed short putt in the worst of the wind cost him a shot at the 11th, the most exposed green of all on these links.

“The more we get done, the easier it is for the return,” he said, having marked his ball, lying two, in front of the 14th green, with Spieth in a similar position.

“I feel great. I’m in a good spot. Definitely got very tricky this afternoon, all day. Even the front side the wind was howling and it was blowing straight left to right pretty much. It played very tough all day.”

The day began with torrential rain and a waterlogged course that required that lengthy delay to make it playable again. Play continued for as long as daylight allowed last night, until almost 10pm.

It was time enough for five-time Open champion Tom Watson to take his final competitive bow before saying goodbye to St Andrews.

It was not, however, long enough to prevent 42 competitors returning at 7am this morning to complete their second rounds, Johnson and Spieth among them, before those who survive the halfway cut must begin the third round in groups of three rather than two as is the norm.

And with the weather forecast predicting further very windy conditions, with gusts of up to 45 miles per hour early on, those still to complete their second rounds are set for a double dose of the tough stuff on Scotland’s east coast.

Jason Day of Australia and 1999 Open champion Paul Lawrie will be among them. Resuming at eight under par, two behind Johnson, and one back of Willett, who followed his opening 66 with a three-under 69.

Already in the clubhouse alongside Willett, albeit on seven under, are Scotsman Marc Warren (69), perennial Open contender Adam Scott (67), and Americans Zach Johnson (71) and Robert Streb (71).

Louis Oosthuizen, who won The Open at St Andrews in 2010, is also on seven under but having to complete seven holes this morning, a far from enviable task.

No wonder Pádraig Harrington was happy to be safely in the clubhouse on three under, not quite in contention yet but out of harm’s way from a scrap for the halfway cut this morning.

“It’s a big advantage,” the two-time Open champion said following his second-round 69.

“If you were finished on the cut line, you’d have to be aware of what’s happening, you’d have to be aware of what’s happening in the morning, you’d have to get up and prepare yourself because you could be first out, whereas, at least when I’m going to bed tonight I’ll be able to figure out what my tee time is tomorrow give or take probably 30 minutes. I don’t have that doubt, and that’s nice. You always want to have some idea of what you’re trying to prepare yourself for.”

That threat is also far from Irish amateur Paul Dunne’s thoughts today as the 22-year-old prepares for a late third-round tee-time following a second consecutive 69 that moved him to six under, just back from the leader and in front of the race to finish low amateur. That puts him in illustrious company, alongside Retief Goosen and Luke Donald.

Even happier though, is Willett, the Yorkshireman still coming to terms with his status as an Open contender.

“I think it’s a childhood dream and looking up there (at the leaderboard) it’s still a little bit surreal but something I’m going to have to get used to, otherwise no point in being up there,” Willett said.

“We’re going to try and rest up and then try and go out for another good weekend and hopefully we can be up there in two days’ time.”