Cam Smith closes with eagle to make Open cut, Sharma into top five

Defending champion Cameron Smith skated on thin ice before sealing his place in the weekend rounds of the 151st Open Championship in Hoylake, hammering through the door with a magnificent closing eagle at Royal Liverpool Golf Club on Friday.

Sitting outside the cut line on 4 over par after 17 holes, the mullet-haired Australian blasted his drive to 356 yards and his approach iron to within two feet of the pin for a morale-boosting eagle and a place in the remaining field of 76 who will do battle for the title on Sunday.

“It would have been very frustrating if I had missed out on the weekend,” Smith said after totalling 2 over 144 after 36 holes with his 72 on Friday. “I think defending is one thing, but just the golf I feel like I’m playing and to miss out on the weekend would have been very frustrating.

At the other end of the leaderboard, India star Shubhankar Sharma improved on his overnight tied seventh place to take a share of fourth with a level par 71 to go with his opening day’s 68. Things would have been so much better for Sharma on his 27th birthday had he been a little less conservative on the testing par-3 17th hole that he eventually came away from with a double-bogey five.

Sharma, playing in his third Open, however, recovered quickly with a birdie on the 18th to climb back into the top five and keep his hopes of a solid finish very much alive, even though Brian Harman of the US led the field on 10 under 134 with a stunning 6 under 65, seven shots ahead of the Indian.

Harman, who smashed a 5-iron on his second shot to also come away with an eagle on 18 and tie Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy for the 36-hole lead margin, led home favourite and local hero Tommy Fleetwood (5 under 137) while Sepp Straka of Austria was third on 4 under 138.

“Very happy with my round,” Sharma said later. “In fact, I was seeing the scores, and when I played the first two-three holes, I felt the wind was definitely a lot more than what we played yesterday. I told myself a level par round would not be a bad round.

“Obviously, I didn’t want that 17 thing to happen and finish level-par like that, but if I look at it as a whole, I’m quite happy. Level par is good and I am still in it.”

The newly-laid 17th hole sits on a plateau with steep run-offs on all sides and three bunkers. Sharma picked an 8-iron and hit into the rough beyond the green. His second shot from a sandy lie misfired and he had to go sideways with the third, leaving him with a two-putt and a double-bogey on the card.

“I hit an 8-iron there. The wind was quite strong all day, and the hole before that, we played about a 25-yard wind. It was a slightly different direction. I just tried to be extra cautious, and I pulled it as well, which didn't help.

“Just rolled into the waste area. Didn’t have a way to get out from there. But I’m happy that I came back with a birdie, and level par for the day. I will take it anyway. It’s only the second day, so it really doesn’t matter. Even if I was tied 50th, it’s golf, so you’ve just got to get up, do your process again,” he explained.

“Until it’s the back nine on Sunday, your position really doesn’t matter. You can’t lose a tournament in the first two days. That’s important. I’m happy that I’m in and around the top-10 mark.”

World number one Scottie Scheffler birdied his last hole to also survive the cut at 3-over par 145 while last week’s Scottish Open champion Rory McIlroy missed a tap-in putt in his round of 1-under par 70 to move to tied 13th place.

Harman will meanwhile take the joint-biggest lead after two days at the Open Championship for 89 years into the weekend after a sublime second round. One-off the pace after day one, the left-handed Harman hit four consecutive birdies after an opening par to seize control of the day.

Winless since the Wells Fargo Championship in 2017, Harman said he would play it hole by hole over the final two days. “I’m just trying not to get too caught up in it. It's just golf. I've probably - I think when I held the 54-hole lead at the US Open, I just probably thought about it too much.

“I just didn't focus on getting sleep and eating right. So that would be my focus this weekend. I have a very active mind. It's hard for me - I've always struggled with trying to predict the future and trying to forecast what's going to happen. I've just tried to get really comfortable just not knowing.”