Jordan Spieth five off the lead at halfway stage of 144th Open
Last Updated: 18/07/15 11:03pm
Jordan Spieth was furious with himself for an uncharacteristically poor performance on the greens during his weather-disrupted second round of the 144th Open.
The Masters and US Open champion, who is chasing the third leg of an unprecedented calendar grand slam, still had five holes of his round to complete when darkness halted play on Friday night at St Andrews following an earlier rain delay.
Returning to the 14th at 7am on Saturday, Spieth aired his frustrations at the players being forced to resume in high winds which caused balls to move on the greens, saying "we should never have started" after leaving a birdie putt short.
Play was soon suspended due to winds gusting up to 45mph, and Spieth returned 10 and a half hours later and finished bogey-birdie for the second day running - a 72 leaving him at five under par and five adrift of halfway leader Dustin Johnson.
Spieth counted the cost of taking five three-putts in his round, but he insisted he was still in good shape to contend for a third consecutive major title.
Anything can happen
"It was an interesting round that took a lot of time, but it's nice to look back on Saturday evening and instead of being five shots back with one to go, I've still got two full rounds, so anything can happen here," the 21-year-old said.
"I believe I'm still in contention. I still believe I can win this tournament. I need a really solid round tomorrow, though, because Dustin is not letting up. Dustin is going to shoot a good round tomorrow with less wind and I'm going to need to shoot a great round to really give myself a chance.
Dustin is going to shoot a good round tomorrow with less wind and I'm going to need to shoot a great round to really give myself a chance
Jordan Spieth
"To fall from two back to five back isn't exactly what I wanted, but it could have been worse, could have been better. If I can shoot something like 10 under in the last two rounds, I think I'll have a chance to win."
Asked about the pressure of trying to win a third straight major title, Spieth added: "When we're out on the course inside the ropes, it's just another event, and I'm working as hard as I can to get into contention and beat the best players in the world.
"I understand where we're at off the course, but it doesn't do any good thinking about that. It does better for me focusing on the task at hand. That's what we did in the first two majors."
