“Very happy to be back in the tournament,” Spieth said.
Tiger Woods still has work to do after a rugged start, good recovery and then a mix of birdies and bogeys that left him stuck in neutral on a better day for scoring. Woods had another 71 and was six shots behind, with 28 players between him and the lead.
“We’ve been fortunate with the conditions. It hasn’t blown yet,” Kisner said. “I think it will blow this weekend and make it even more difficult. Who knows what’s going to happen? We’re going to just keep trying to get after it.”
Carnoustie was a far different test from the opening round, when sunshine baked the fairways crisp and it was difficult to figure out how far the ball was going when it hit the ground. The steady, light rain made them a little slower and a lot more predictable. The greens held shots a little better. Strategies changed. Slightly softer conditions meant power players who were driving beyond the trouble hit more irons off the tee, and shorter players hit more drivers and fairway metals.
Kisner hit 5-iron off the first tee Thursday. He hit 3-wood Friday.
“Hit the same club as the approach,” Kisner said. “That’s a pretty dramatic difference in distance.”
Kisner is a newcomer to what amounts to an American fraternity house at golf’s oldest championship the last three years. Four of them are among the top 11 on the leaderboard going into the weekend with Spieth and Rickie Fowler, who shot 69 and was at 3-under 139.
As for talking shop after work? Nothing is off limits.
“Everybody will tell their horror stories and good stories, and we’ll laugh and eat a big old meal and sit around and watching something stupid,” Kisner said.
Thomas will have one of the horror stories.
The PGA champion took three to get out of a pot bunker from the fairway on the par-5 sixth hole, making the first of three straight double bogeys. Johnson became the first No. 1 player to miss the cut since Luke Donald in 2011, and it was the second straight that the top two players in the world ranking missed the cut in a major.
The way golf has been going, it would be reasonable to see the name “Johnson” atop the leaderboard and assume it belonged to the top-ranked player.
But not necessarily at the British Open.
“I’ve been called Dustin many times,” Zach Johnson said. “I doubt he’s been called Zach that many times.”
Johnson overcame a bogey on the opening hole with birdies on the third and fourth holes, and he never put himself under too much pressure the rest of the way.
Already a two-time major champion with titles at St. Andrews and Augusta National, the 42-year-old from Iowa now has made the cut 12 straight times in the British Open, a streak that began at Carnoustie in 2007. His low ball flight, grinding nature and good putting give him the right ingredients.
Kisner is no stranger to pressure at a major. He had at least a share of the lead after each of three rounds at the PGA Championship last summer until a bogey on the 70th hole ruined his chances.
“Hopefully, I’ll have another chance to prove that I can do it here,” Kisner said.
