Once Loch Swilcan had been removed for the second time in a month, Yorkshire’s Danny Willett was left at the top of a pretty significant pile on a sodden day left unfinished at the 144th Open Championship.
The Old Course, with the water table already high after several weeks of rain including a storm that flooded it just at the end of June, flooded again with a flash storm yesterday morning, causing a three and a half hour delay once the first group were halted at the first green when the cup literally overflowed with rainwater.
A trickier day in the gusting wind eventually got underway at 10am after a gargantuan and heroic effort by the St Andrews greens staff and the volunteers from all over who are augmenting them this week.
But the start times of the bulk of the first round leaders Dustin Johnson, Paul Lawrie, Jason Day, Louis Oosthuizen and Jordan Spieth became the night shift rather than the afternoon wave, with no hope of getting finished by darkness.
For a while it seemed that no-one in the first swathe of starters would surpass Dustin Johnson’s -7 lead, but first Willett, then Zach Johnson and thirdly Scotland’s Marc Warren pulled alongside.
The vicar’s son from Sheffield eventually struck out alone, reaching 10-under at one point before being drawn back and requiring to hole a tricky 10-footer for birdie on the last for a two-shot lead in the clubhouse at nine-under.
Warren, Johnson and Adam Scott with an ominous day’s best of 67 are the closest of the pursuers completed two rounds.
Left out in front is maybe the least celebrated of the many excellent players to emerge from the 2007 Walker Cup Rory McIlroy, Dustin Johnson, Rickie Fowler and Webb Simpson played in that match at Royal County Down but he’s not a complete surprise.
He’s won two big money tournaments, the BMW International and the Nedbank Challenge, he’s currently second to Rory on the Race to Dubai and reached the semi-finals of the World Matchplay in May.
The amusing thing was the number of American observers, new to the often hyperactive young Yorkshireman, opining that he was getting “twitchy and fiddly” with the lead. That, they discovered when he got to the 18th and the interview area, is just Danny ALL the time.
In the end, not even he himself knows how he’ll cope with holding the lead in the championship that means so much to him. He hopes to have a little fun, at least.
“I feel someone will go out there, regardless of the conditions, and jump out of the field to shoot a good score,” he said when asked if he wanted the weather to worsen. “There’s a reasonable chance someone can go and overtake me and (Marc) Warren.
“Of course it’s a childhood dream and it’s still a little bit surreal but something I’m going to have to get used to, otherwise there’s no point in being up there.
“It’s not anything you can really work at or prepare for, you can never really play that on any other stage apart from actually doing it. But you’ve got to enjoy it, you’re going to have a pretty tough weekend if you don’t like being up there.”
Willett is one of these Dunhill specialists who has a good record on the Old Course, yesterday’s 69 taking him to 40-under for his last 10 rounds.
“It kind of suits a fader,” he reckoned. “If you hit it middle of the golf course and fade it back down, it helps around here.
“Ball flight control is a strength, I’ve done pretty good around links golf courses throughout my career. We obviously played here a lot as amateurs.
“It’s just one of them places, it lends itself to good golf. There’s awlays a good score out there and it’s actually quite nice to come here for an Open Championship, and not be too dissimilar to how the Dunhill plays.
“I don’t think it’s anything you can really work at. You can never really play that on any other stage apart from actually doing it. No, it was good fun. To see your name at the top of any leaderboard is good, especially when you’re at the Open and your name is up top and you see the names behind you. I’ve said in other interviews it’s something you need to embrace and you need to get used to, otherwise you’re going to have a pretty tough weekend if you don’t like being there.
The last two days, the wind is a good one for St. Andrews, 20, 30 yard wind, playable, you can certainly hit golf shots and it’s not too ridiculous. Hopefully it stays this kind of strength, and by the end of the weekend I think you’ll see a good leaderboard.”
It’s already pretty good, with Scott back there where he’s been for the last four Opens now, most notably of course at Lytham in 2012.
“Last year I had a shot but was too far back, Muirfield I had the lead on the back nine on Sunday and Mickelson just played better than me,” he said. “Lytham I lost and it hurt.
“I have a bit of a chip on my shoulder about this championship now, and there’s nothing I want more than to have that trophy at least once before I retire.”
Zac Johnson shot a 71 to share second, with two other major champions, Geoff Ogilvy and Justin Rose, creeping into the picture at five-under.
Four shots is nothing with the steady and strong winds expected today, probably a third successive day of playing from dawn until dusk.
Only at the Open.