Adam Scott spent most of the first round at the 2015 British Open hovering around even par. He was even on his round heading into No. 16 before finishing with two birdies on his last three holes. He picked up the second round right where he left off on Thursday. Scott carded a bogey-free 5-under 67 to vault up the leaderboard and into contention.
Scott now sits at 7-under for the tournament and is two strokes behind leader Danny Willett. He didn't draw much attention on Thursday, while the focus was on Dustin Johnson, Jason Day, Jordan Spieth and others who went low. But a 7-under stretch over his last 21 holes has Scott firmly in the mix heading into the weekend. He benefited some from an early tee time. The best scoring conditions of the day came right after play resumed. Wind gusts have picked up some since then, and could make it a challenge for the afternoon wave to go low.
Scott has been knocking on the door at the British Open the last three years finishing second, tied for third and tied for fifth in that stretch. He's been so close to taking home the Claret Jug and appears to be in contending form once again. He hasn't had much success at St. Andrews during his career with a missed cut, a 34th place and a T27 finish. He currently sits tied for second and will likely be among the final groups on Saturday.
Like Scott, Phil Mickelson began the second round at 2-under and just like Scott, it looked like Lefty was making a strong surge up the leaderboard. He made the turn at 4-under for the tournament and added a birdie at No. 10 to dip to 5-under. Then, his round unraveled. A double-bogey at No. 11 put a damper on his round. He got a stroke back at No. 13 but bogeys at No. 15 and No. 18 dropped him to even for the round.
Mickelson's bogey at No. 18 was especially bad because it is playing as the easiest hole in the second round. In fact, Mickelson is the only player to drop a shot on the hole on Friday. Of the 60 players to play the hole thus far, more than half (35) came away with birdie. Mickelson may have birdied, but his short game let him down. His approach shot had too much spin and came back all the way off the green. He later missed a short par putt to finish with a disappointing bogey.
Here is a snapshot of the current leaderboard. For a live leaderboard, head over to TheOpen.com.
| Place | Player | Score | Thru/Tee Time |
| 1 | Danny Willett | -9 | F |
| T2 | Marc Warren | -7 | F |
| T2 | Zach Johnson | -7 | F |
| T2 | Adam Scott | -7 | F |
| T2 | Robert Streb | -7 | 10 |
| T2 | Dustin Johnson | -7 | 2 |
| T2 | Jason Day | -7 | 1 |
| 8 | Paul Lawrie | -6 | 2 |
| T9 | Steven Bowditch | -5 | F |
| T9 | Anirban Lahiri | -5 | F |
| T9 | Geoff Ogilvy | -5 | F |
| T9 | Justin Rose | -5 | F |
| T9 | David Lingmerth | -5 | 10 |
| T9 | Anthony Wall | -5 | 9 |
| T9 | Retief Goosen | -5 | 8 |
| T9 | Charl Schwartzel | -5 | 4 |
| T9 | Jordan Spieth | -5 | 2 |
| T9 | Louis Oosthuizen | -5 | 1 |
| T19 | David Howell | -4 | 1:43 p.m. |
| T19 | Russell Henley | -4 | F |
| T19 | Jimmy Walker | -4 | F |
| T19 | Brett Rumford | -4 | 14 |
| T19 | Paul Dunne | -4 | 12 |
| T19 | Jordan Niebrugge | -4 | 9 |
| T19 | Webb Simpson | -4 | 6 |
| T26 | Padraig Harrington | -3 | F |
| T26 | Martin Kaymer | -3 | F |
| T26 | Branden Grace | -3 | F |
| T26 | Paul Casey | -3 | F |
| T26 | Greg Owen | -3 | 13 |
| T26 | Luke Donald | -3 | 7 |
| T26 | Romain Langasque | -3 | 3 |
| T33 | Stewart Cink | -2 | 1:32 p.m. |
| T33 | Greg Chalmers | -2 | 1:43 p.m. |
| T33 | Tyrrell Hatton | -2 | 2:05 p.m. |
| T33 | Paul Kinnear | -2 | 2:05 p.m. |
| T33 | David Lipsky | -2 | F |
| T33 | Cameron Tringale | -2 | F |
| T33 | Gary Woodland | -2 | F |
| T33 | Phil Mickelson | -2 | F |
| T33 | James Morrison | -2 | 16 |
| T33 | Graham DeLaet | -2 | 11 |
| T33 | Matt Jones | -2 | 10 |
| T33 | Kevin Na | -2 | 9 |
| T33 | Ernie Els | -2 | 5 |
| T33 | Sergio Garcia | -2 | 3 |
| T33 | Patrick Reed | -2 | 3 |
| T33 | Hideki Matsuyama | -2 | 2 |
| T49 | Brooks Koepka | -1 | 1:21 p.m. |
| T49 | Scott Arnold | -1 | 2:05 p.m. |
| T49 | Richie Ramsay | -1 | F |
| T49 | Thongchai Jaidee | -1 | F |
| T49 | Francesco Molinari | -1 | F |
| T49 | Jamie Donaldson | -1 | F |
| T49 | Henrik Stenson | -1 | F |
| T49 | Rickie Fowler | -1 | F |
| T49 | Ashley Chesters | -1 | 17 |
| T49 | Sandy Lyle | -1 | 9 |
| T49 | Hunter Mahan | -1 | 8 |
| T49 | Carl Pettersson | -1 | 7 |
| T49 | Ross Fisher | -1 | 7 |
| T49 | Brendon Todd | -1 | 4 |
| T49 | Ryan Palmer | -1 | 2 |
| T64 | John Senden | E | 1:21 p.m. |
| T64 | David Duval | E | 1:32 p.m. |
| T64 | Eddie Pepperell | E | 1:54 p.m. |
| T64 | Ryan Fox | E | 2:27 p.m. |
| T64 | Thomas Aiken | E | F |
| T64 | Ben Martin | E | F |
| T64 | Rafael Cabrera Bello | E | F |
| T64 | Jason Dufner | E | F |
| T64 | Bernd Wiesberger | E | F |
| T64 | Mark O'Meara | E | F |
| T64 | Bernhard Langer | E | F |
| T64 | Matt Kuchar | E | F |
| T64 | Jim Furyk | E | F |
| T64 | Harris English | E | 17 |
| T64 | Andy Sullivan | E | 17 |
| T64 | Marc Leishman | E | 17 |
| T64 | Marcus Fraser | E | 14 |
| T64 | Rikard Karlberg | E | 13 |
| T64 | Russell Knox | E | 11 |
| T64 | Alexander Levy | E | 10 |
| T64 | Billy Horschel | E | 6 |
| T64 | Ollie Schniederjans | E | 6 |
| T64 | Lee Westwood | E | 3 |
| T64 | Kevin Kisner | E | 2 |
| Projected Cut | |||
| T88 | Marcel Siem | +1 | F |
| T88 | Pablo Larrazabal | +1 | F |
| T88 | John Daly | +1 | F |
| T88 | Tommy Fleetwood | +1 | F |
| T88 | Pelle Edberg | +1 | 15 |
| T88 | Shane Lowry | +1 | 8 |
| T88 | Graeme McDowell | +1 | 6 |
| T88 | J.B. Holmes | +1 | 4 |
| T88 | Shinji Tomimura | +1 | 4 |
| T88 | Bubba Watson | +1 | 4 |
| T88 | Darren Clarke | +1 | 3 |
| T88 | Matteo Manassero | +1 | 3 |
| T100 | Ben Curtis | +2 | 1:32 p.m. |
| T100 | David Hearn | +2 | 1:54 p.m. |
| T100 | Scott Hend | +2 | 2:27 p.m. |
| T100 | Jonathan Moore | +2 | 2:27 p.m. |
| T100 | Jonas Blixt | +2 | F |
| T100 | Stephen Gallacher | +2 | F |
| T100 | Hiroyuki Fujita | +2 | F |
| T100 | Daniel Berger | +2 | 15 |
| T100 | Brian Harman | +2 | 11 |
| T100 | Joost Luiten | +2 | 10 |
| T100 | Byeong-Hun An | +2 | 9 |
| T100 | Victor Dubuisson | +2 | 6 |
| T100 | Brandt Snedeker | +2 | 5 |
| T100 | Ian Poulter | +2 | 4 |
| T114 | Tadahiro Takayama | +3 | 1:21 p.m. |
| T114 | Mikko Ilonen | +3 | 1:43 p.m. |
| T114 | Adam Bland | +3 | 2:16 p.m. |
| T114 | Danny Lee | +3 | F |
| T114 | George Coetzee | +3 | F |
| T114 | Ryan Moore | +3 | F |
| T114 | Keegan Bradley | +3 | F |
| T114 | Mark Young | +3 | 15 |
| T114 | Tom Gillis | +3 | 14 |
| T114 | Todd Hamilton | +3 | 12 |
| T124 | Raphael Jacquelin | +4 | 1:54 p.m. |
| T124 | Daniel Brooks | +4 | 2:16 p.m. |
| T124 | Jaco Van Zyl | +4 | F |
| T124 | Soren Kjeldsen | +4 | F |
| T124 | Miguel Jimenez | +4 | F |
| T124 | Tom Lehman | +4 | F |
| T124 | Yuta Ikeda | +4 | F |
| T124 | Kiradech Aphibarnrat | +4 | 17 |
| T124 | Romain Wattel | +4 | 16 |
| T124 | Taichi Teshima | +4 | 13 |
| T124 | Thomas Bjorn | +4 | 13 |
| T124 | Matt Every | +4 | 10 |
| T124 | Tiger Woods | +4 | 1 |
| T137 | Gary Boyd | +5 | 2:16 p.m. |
| T137 | Morgan Hoffmann | +5 | F |
| T137 | Hiroshi Iwata | +5 | F |
| T137 | Bill Haas | +5 | F |
| T137 | Koumei Oda | +5 | 17 |
| T137 | Alister Balcombe | +5 | 14 |
| T137 | James Hahn | +5 | 12 |
| T137 | Charley Hoffman | +5 | 9 |
| T137 | Kevin Streelman | +5 | 8 |
| T137 | Tom Watson | +5 | 5 |
| T147 | WC Liang | +6 | F |
| T147 | Gunn Yang | +6 | F |
| T147 | Justin Leonard | +6 | F |
| T147 | Edoardo Molinari | +6 | 16 |
| T147 | Scott Strange | +6 | 14 |
| T147 | Robert Dinwiddie | +6 | 13 |
| 153 | Rod Pampling | +8 | 13 |
| 154 | Nick Faldo | +10 | F |
| T155 | Mark Calcavecchia | +11 | F |
| T155 | Ben Taylor | +11 | 14 |