After a downpour halted play Friday with 105 players either on the course or yet to tee off, the second round wasn’t completed until Saturday. Players returned at 7 a.m. for the continuation of the second round.
When all was said and swung, the cut line came in at 6-over 146, with 60 golfers at 146 or better.
Sophie Gustafson of Sweden was one of 39 players who failed to get on the course Friday, but she came back from an opening round 74 to card a 4-under 66 Saturday morning. She made the cut easily with her 140 total.
“I’m very happy about my round,” she said. “It was a little hard to get up so early, but it worked out OK. It was the same for all of us out there this morning.”
The round was the second-lowest of the tournament, just one stroke behind the 65 that leader Karrie Webb put on the board Friday. Webb was one of 45 golfers who finished their rounds before play was halted.
Gustafson’s round earned her the right to play 36 holes Saturday after making the cut for the third consecutive year in the Open.
“It’s going to be tough playing 36 holes in one day,” she said. “My alarm went off at five this morning, so it’s going to be a long day. It’s off to a good start so far.”
Becky Iverson’s alarm must have gone off on 16 in Saturday’s early-morning round. Rolling along at three-over, the Michigan State graduate used seven strokes to play the 177-yard par-3.
Her horror story started when she went out of bounds off the tee. She sent her next tee ball into the bunker, then left it in the bunker before finally getting out. She two-putted and walked away shaking her head. She parred out but missed the cut by one stroke.
Cindy Figg-Currier, tied for the lead after the first round, ballooned to a 76 in Saturday’s morning round, but stayed to complete the 36-hole marathon on the strength of her 3-over 143 (67-73).
She said the 2 1/2 inches of rain dumped on the course Friday afternoon didn’t create problems in the fairways.
“The course drained exceptionally well,” she said. “There really wasn’t any problem with squishiness in the fairways.”
The course might not have been squishy, but it did play longer, as tee shots didn’t get as much roll. Se Ri Pak said the softer fairways made it a long-hitter’s paradise.
“Everybody has a chance, but the long-hitter has a little better chance,” she said. “A golfer hitting long irons well has a good chance.”
The South Korean, coming off an opening round 69, played her first 18 Saturday in even-par. She was two-under, but bogeyed 17 and 18. She was five strokes behind Webb after the second round and paired with the leader.
Brenda Corrie Kuehn, the amateur from Fletcher who is in her ninth month of pregnancy, nailed it on the head when she was asked why she was shorter off the tee in Saturday’s second round.
“Did you hear that it rained 2 1/2 inches yesterday?”
The only golfer from North Carolina out of the six that were in the Open that made the cut was Marcy Newton of High Point. She made it interesting when she missed a par putt from less than a foot on 18, but her 6-over 146 left her right on the cut line.
Southern Pines’ Donna Andrews had a terse “no comment” after missing the cut.
She shot rounds of 77 and 75 in posting a 12-over 152. It was the first time she had missed the cut in an Open since 1996 – the last time the Open was held at Pine Needles.
