Justin Thomas, Adam Scott, others rocket up Open leaderboard in benign conditions

Royal Troon presented players with some tough challenges over the first two days of the British Open.

Dozens of top players struggled on this course, which might as well have been renamed “Royal Trouble,” and 10 of the top 20 golfers in the world missed the cut, a testament to Troon’s beast-like playing style.

“It’s really a matter of wind. The first two days we had wind rather than prevailing winds. Most courses are built for the prevailing winds. When it blows the other way, nothing works,” Adam Scott said of why Royal Troon is difficult.

“Even on the first day, it was pretty calm outside, we had a little rain early on, I felt like I was playing in pretty good conditions but it was hard to get good scores. [blowing] Every hole, every hole, it felt the same. [Friday] “It was just awful. If I didn’t hit the ball on the line I wanted it to go, it would go really far and it was hard to hit the fairway, much less the green. I don’t know. I didn’t hit many greens yesterday.”

Winds gusting from the south at 25 to 30 mph caused chaos on the field on Thursday and Friday, but the winds died down completely by Saturday morning, creating a golden opportunity for players further down the standings.

Dozens of people took advantage of it.

“It’s become a lot easier,” explained Max Homa, who managed to reduce the figure.

“You have to hit great shots and you have to be good off the tee, but [Saturday. The winds died down more than when we started, and it wasn’t much when we played. It’ll be quite a bit easier if you can avoid the bunkers.”

Justin Thomas waltzed around Royal Troon and played beautifully in the good conditions. After shooting a 9-over 45 on the front nine on Friday, Thomas rebounded with a terrific 5-under 31 on that same side on Saturday. He ultimately shot a 4-under 67 to climb back up to even for the championship.

“It was a great Saturday. I played really, really well, and made some great putts,” Thomas said.

Photo by Andy Buchanan/Getty Images

“You know it can be gettable sometimes. With the wind being calmer, I felt good enough about my game where I could be aggressive off the tees like I was, but I also capitalized on them. So it was nice.”

Scott also played terrific, shooting one stroke better than Thomas. The Aussie, of course, finished runner-up to Robert MacIntyre last week at the Genesis Scottish Open.

“You can’t really complain about 66, but when you’re so far back, you kind of need everyone possible [to stumble]” Scott said.

“I think I got what I deserved. I played pretty good golf and didn’t make too many mistakes.”

But the beauty of playing links golf on the Scottish coast is that the weather can change in an instant. While the waves on Saturday morning were perfect for scoring, afternoon participants had to contend with stronger winds and pouring rain. The mix of wind and rain ensures one thing: unpredictability, so who knows how far back Scott and Thomas will be by the end of the day?

Photo: Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images

There were plenty of others who climbed the leaderboard.

South African Thriston Lawrence shot up the leaderboard with a 6-under 30 after the first nine holes. He then birdied the tough par-4 11th hole but lost a stroke on the 13th to finish with a 6-under 65.

Sam Burns, who played on last fall’s Ryder Cup team, also signed with a six-under 65, and he and Lawrence are sitting at three-under par in the clubhouse.

Now they can sit back, relax and watch the contestants take on nature on Saturday afternoon.

Eighteen players were already under par on Saturday, with 10 others in the red on the course. Troon had a birdie-heavy third day and a number of players moved up the leaderboard on the travelling day.

Jack Mirko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation Playing Through. Follow For more golf articles, follow us on Twitter Jack Mirko In the same way.