United States PGA Tour Scoreboard

RENO-TAHOE OPEN
Montreux Golf and Country Club, Reno, Nevada.
Total prize fund $3million. Winner gets $540,000
SECOND-ROUND TOTALS
Par 144 (2x72)
134 Robert Garrigus 69 65, Matt Bettencourt 66 68
136 John Mallinger 69 67
137 Kevin Stadler 70 67, John Merrick 69 68, Bill Lunde 69 68, Bob Heintz 69 68
138 Chad Campbell 69 69, Chris DiMarco 67 71
139 Scott McCarron 70 69, Todd Fischer 69 70
140 Will MacKenzie 68 72, Jonathan Kaye 71 69, Craig Bowden 68 72, Cliff Kresge 70 70, Rich Barcelo 71 69
141 Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind) 72 69, Rodney Pampling (Aus) 72 69, Aron Price (Aus) 70 71, Paul Stankowski 71 70, Jeff Quinney 72 69, Woody Austin 69 72, Mathias Gronberg (Swe) 69 72, Steve Wheatcroft 74 67, Kevin Streelman 69 72, J J Henry 69 72, Jarrod Lyle (Aus) 69 72, Craig Barlow 69 72, Dicky Pride 72 69
142 Mark Hensby (Aus) 69 73, Stuart Appleby (Aus) 73 69, Steve Elkington (Aus) 69 73
143 Kris Blanks 71 72, Greg Kraft 72 71, Roger Tambellini 71 72, Steve Allan (Aus) 69 74, Alex Cejka (Ger) 71 72, Seung-su Han (Kor) 72 71, John Rollins 71 72, Len Mattiace 78 65, Matthew Every 75 68
144 Robert Gamez 76 68, Kirk Triplett 76 68, Martin Flores 74 70, Ben Fox 73 71, Robin Freeman 73 71, Mark Brooks 74 70
145 Kent Jones 73 72, Charles Warren 70 75, David Lutterus (Rsa) 70 75, Omar Uresti 70 75, Garth Mulroy (Rsa) 71 74, Steve Flesch 74 71, Matt Hill 70 75, Jim Carter 69 76, Mark Wilson 74 71, Guy Boros 72 73, Tom Gillis 73 72, Skip Kendall 75 70, Henrik Bjornstad (Nor) 72 73
146 Willie Wood 76 70, Brent Delahoussaye 77 69, Vaughn Taylor 74 72, Vance Veazey 75 71, Graham Delaet (Can) 70 76, James Nitties (Aus) 72 74, Josh Teater 74 72
147 Mike Small 73 74, Ted Purdy 73 74, Johnson Wagner 75 72, Nicholas Thompson 72 75
MISSED THE CUT
148 Tom Scherrer 75 73, Nathan Green (Aus) 73 75, Marco Dawson 73 75, Cameron Beckman 74 74, Michael Clark II 73 75
149 Jim Gallagher junior 69 80, Dean Wilson 74 75, Daniel Miernicki 79 70, Shiv Kapur (Ind) 73 76, Notah Begay III 80 69, Scott Piercy 76 73, Blaine McCallister 76 73, Tim Wilkinson (Nzl) 73 76
150 Tom Byrum 75 75, Erik Compton 80 70, Joe Ogilvie 73 77, John Chin 75 75, Brenden Pappas (Rsa) 75 75, Bob Burns 77 73, Grant Waite (Nzl) 76 74, Cameron Tringale 74 76
151 Brian Stuard 76 75, Chris Tidland 75 76, Daniel Chopra (Swe) 78 73, Jeff Gove 73 78, Robert Damron 73 78, Kevin Johnson 78 73, Ernie Gonzalez 76 75
152 Mitch Lowe 77 75, Steve Lowery 77 75, Alex Prugh 77 75
153 Kenny Kim (Swe) 76 77, Jim McGovern 76 77, Spike McRoy 74 79, Matt Weibring 80 73
154 Carlos Franco (Par) 75 79
155 Chris Wilson 80 75, Spencer Levin 78 77, Steve Pate 73 82, Eric Axley 73 82, Billy Mayfair 77 78, Ryan Palmer 79 76, John Morse 80 75
156 Justin Bolli 78 78, Mike Heinen 79 77
157 Chris Smith 82 75, Nolan Henke 77 80
158 David Ogrin 76 82, Carlos Concha 80 78
161 Ron Streck 83 78

Tiger hangs on in there with a 73, completed in late evening

Rory's nightmare 80 leaves him 13 shots behind leader Oosthuizen

FROM THE AOL GOLF NEWS SERVICE
Rory McIlroy's dream of becoming the youngest Open champion for 117 years turned into a nightmare with an 80 over the windswept Old Course at St Andrews this evening.
Two ahead after his dazzling record-equalling 63 in the first round, the 21-year-old from Northern Ireland was blown away by gusts of up to 40mph.
After a 65-minute suspension in mid-afternoon because balls were moving on the greens, McIlroy went back out in conditions he considered even worse, four-putted the 11th and by the time he finished just before 9pm was an unbelievable 11 shots behind Louis Oosthuizen.
That's how the "Old Lady" pays back those who boast that they have never had a bad round over the Old Course.
The South African, who had teed off in the second group of the day at 6.41am, added a 67 to his opening 65 and when play was called off again because of darkness he was five clear.
Oosthuizen, who had missed the cut in seven of his previous eight majors and finished last in the other, was on 12 under par and, in relation to par, that matched the tournament record for the first 36 holes.
In a clear indication of how things deteriorated, his closest challenger in the clubhouse was 50-year-old 1989 champion Mark Calcavecchia, who teed off at 6.30am.
Paul Casey and Lee Westwood were other early starters and by shooting 69 and 71 respectively - Casey even had a triple bogey at the 17th in that - they ended the day in joint third place on six under.
Kent-born Challenge Tour player Steve Tiley was alongside them after an outward 36, but having been in the very last group he still has most of the back nine to play in the morning.
As for world number one Tiger Woods, winner at the course in 2000 and 2005, he made a better fist than McIlroy of staying in the hunt with a 73 for four under par 140.
He just managed to get his round completed and was not far off holing-in-one at the 357-yard last, while behind him 60-year-old Tom Watson, last year's runner-up, also birdied, but missed the cut in what is probably his last Open at the Old Course.
Another former Open champion to miss the cut was Paul Lawrie who followed his promising 69 on the first day with a 80 for 149 - four shots too many to beat the cut.

Nine past champions look likely to miss the cut at one-over 145

OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP SCOREBOARD

+Second-round play in the late evening was halted when it became too dark around 9pm to continue playing. There are 10 groups still to complete their second rounds. They will restart at 6.30am.
+Eight former Open champions will miss the cut - Padraig Harrington, Ernie Els, Paul Lawrie, Todd Hamilton, Ben Curtis, Sir Nick Faldo, Tom Watson and Sandy Lyle.

LATER NEWS: The cut mark was finally 36-hole totals of 146 (two over par) and better. Another ex-Open champion, Mark O'Meara, was added to list of non-qualifiers for the last two rounds.

SECOND-ROUND TOTALS (incomplete)
Par 144 (2x72)
132 Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 65 67
137 Mark Calcavecchia (USA) 70 67
138 Paul Casey 69 69, Lee Westwood 67 71
139 Peter Hanson (Swe) 66 73, Ricky Barnes (USA) 68 71, Sean O'Hair (USA) 67 72, Retief Goosen (Rsa) 69 70, Graeme McDowell 71 68, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 72 67, Tom Lehman (USA) 71 68
140 Nick Watney (USA) 67 73, Robert Karlsson (Swe) 69 71, Tiger Woods (USA) 67 73, Martin Kaymer (Ger) 69 71, Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 69 71, Toru Taniguchi (Jpn) 70 70
141 Ryo Ishikawa (Jpn) 68 73, Dustin Johnson (USA) 69 72, Vijay Singh (Fij) 68 73, Shane Lowry 68 73, Y.E. Yang (Kor) 67 74
142 Adam Scott (Aus) 72 70, Jeff Overton (USA) 73 69, Sergio Garcia (Spa) 71 71, Marcel Siem (Ger) 67 75, Alvaro Quiros (Spa) 72 70, John Daly (USA) 66 76, Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 68 74, Bradley Dredge 66 76
143 Rory McIlroy 63 80, Lucas Glover (USA) 67 76, Andrew Coltart 66 77, Camilo Villegas (Col) 68 75, Simon Khan 74 69
144 Phil Mickelson (USA) 73 71, Kevin Na (USA) 70 74, Thomas Aiken (Rsa) 71 73, Robert Allenby (Aus) 69 75, John Senden (Aus) 68 76, Marc Leishman (Aus) 73 71, Ian Poulter 71 73, Stewart Cink (USA) 70 74, Simon Dyson 69 75, Peter Senior (Aus) 73 71
145 Steve Stricker (USA) 71 74, Colm Moriarty 72 73, Ross Fisher 68 77, Colin Montgomerie 74 71, Heath Slocum (USA) 71 74, Hunter Mahan (USA) 69 76, Steve Marino (USA) 69 76, Luke Donald 73 72, Scott Verplank (USA) 72 73, Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 69 76
PROJECTED CUT MARK
146 Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 72 74, Hirofumi Miyase (Jpn) 71 75, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 71 75, Zach Johnson (USA) 72 74, Richard S Johnson (Swe) 73 73, Robert Rock 68 78, Rickie Fowler (USA) 79 67, Danny Chia (Mal) 69 77
147 Justin Rose 70 77, Thomas Bjorn (Den) 70 77, Oliver Wilson 68 79, Bubba Watson (USA) 74 73, Eric Chun (Kor) 71 76
148 Seung-yul Noh (Kor) 72 76, Tom Watson (USA) 73 75, Gareth Maybin 72 76, Rhys Davies 73 75, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Spa) 72 76, Ben Crane (USA) 72 76, Ryuichi Oda (Jpn) 76 72, Ernie Els (Rsa) 69 79, Ross McGowan 68 80
149 D.A. Points (USA) 72 77, Todd Hamilton (USA) 72 77, Angel Cabrera (Arg) 73 76, Ben Curtis (USA) 76 73, Jason Bohn (USA) 75 74
150 Koumei Oda (Jpn) 74 76, Geoff Ogilvy (Aus) 72 78, Hiroyuki Fujita (Jpn) 75 75, Justin Leonard (USA) 76 74, Jim Furyk (USA) 77 73, Paul Goydos (USA) 74 76, Bill Haas (USA) 73 77, Yuta Ikeda (Jpn) 72 78, K J Choi (Kor) 76 74, Padraig Harrington 73 77
151 Francesco Molinari (Ita) 74 77, Anders Hansen (Den) 77 74, Soren Hansen (Den) 72 79, Jean Hugo (Rsa) 76 75, Tim Petrovic (USA) 71 80, Paul Lawrie 69 82, Loren Roberts (USA) 73 78, Tim Clark (Rsa) 71 80, Sandy Lyle 75 76
152 Paul Streeter 76 76, Shunsuke Sonoda (Jpn) 74 78, Josh Cunliffe (Rsa) 75 77, Kurt Barnes (Aus) 75 77, Darren Fichardt (Rsa) 74 78
153 Katsumasa Miyamoto (Jpn) 77 76, Sir Nick Faldo 72 81, Alexander Noren (Swe) 73 80, Mathew Goggin (Aus) 74 79, Victor Dubuisson (Fra) 80 73
154 Jerry Kelly (USA) 79 75, Ryan Moore (USA) 70 84, Thomas Levet (Fra) 73 81
155 Tyrrell Hatton 78 77, George McNeill (USA) 78 77, Jason Dufner (USA) 73 82, Brian Gay (USA) 72 83, David Duval (USA) 77 78, Jae-bum Park (Kor) 76 79, Jose Manuel Lara (Spa) 80 75
156 Gary Clark 79 77
157 Martin Laird 74 83, Glen Day (USA) 78 79
160 Laurie Canter 81 79
165 Simon Edwards  79 86

ANDY HANDY AT HALFWAY ON CHALLENGE TOUR

By COLIN FARQUHARSON
Glasgow’s former Scottish amateur champion Andrew McArthur had a purple patch of five birdies in a seven-hole stretch on his way to a halfway position of joint sixth on 11 under par 133 in this week’s Challenge Tour event in Switzerland, the Credit Suisse Challenge.

In a low-scoring tournament – the halfway cut fell at five-under 139, McArthur followed up an opening 66 with a 67 in which he birdied the second, fourth, sixth, seventh, eight, 10th and 13th and added an eagle 3 at the 17th for good measure in halves of 32 (four under par) and 35 (one under).

The Scot, pictured, did have bogeys at the short third, 11th, 14th and 18th or else he would have been a lot closer to leader Thorbjorn Olesen (Denmark) who is on 14-under 130 with rounds of 66 and 64.

Other Scots to beat the cut were Anstruther’s George Murray (67-69), joint 20th of 136, Edinburgh’s Raymond Russell (68-69), sharing 33rd place on 137, and James McLeary (69-70), joint 59th on 139.

Elliot Saltman (Aegon), even though four under par through 36 holes, missed the cut by one shot with 72 and 68 for 140. Other Scots eliminated were Jack Doherty on 141 (70-71), Callum Macaulaey (71-72) on 143 and Scott Jamieson (80-67) on 147.
SECOND-ROUND TOTALS
Par 144 (2x72). Yardage 7,234
130 Thorbjorn Olesen (Denmark) 66 64.
131 Stuart Manley (Wales0 66 65.
132 Benhamin Hebert (france) 67  65, Marius Thorp (Norway) 68 64, Oscar Floren (Sweden) 66 66
133 Wil Besseling (Netherlands|) 64 69, Alexandre Kaleka (France) 67 66, Daniel  Brooks (England) 66 67, Andrew McArthur (Scotland) 66 67.
Other Scottish scores:
136 George Murray 67 69 (jt 20th).
137 Raymond Russell 68 69 (jt 33rd).
139 James McLeary 69 70 (jt 59th).
MISSED THE CUT (139 or better)
140 Elliot Saltman 72 68
141 Jack Doherty 70 71.
143 Callum Macaulay 71 72.
147 Scott Jamieson 80 67.

PGA EUROPRO TOUR EVENT AT BRISTOL

Lloyd Saltman wins £1,200 for joint 5th

finish, Graham Rankin shares 8th place

By COLIN FARQUHARSON
A closing round of one-under-par 69 enabled Lloyd Saltman (Aegon) to finish joint fifth and earn £1,200 in this week’s PGA EuroPro Tour event, the World Snooker Golf Championship, at the Players Golf Club, Bristol today.
Saltman, pictured right, put together rounds of 71, 73 and 69 for a three-over-par total of 213 in sometimes adverse weather. He finished four shots behind Matthew Evans (Rotherham) (67-73-69) and Martin Sell (Wrag Barn) (71-68-69) who tied at the top of the leaderboard on one-under-par 209
Evans won the play-off for the £10,000 top prize. Sell earned £5,000.
Drumpellier pro Graham Rankin matched Saltman’s closing 69 and shared eighth place on 215, having had earlier scores of 71 and 75. Rankin earned £875.
The only other Scot to survive the halfway cut, Craig Lee (Aspire) tied for 21st place with scores of 74, 73 and 72 for which he received a pay-out of £365.
LEADING FINAL TOTALS
Par 210 (3x70)
209 Matthew Evans (Rotherham) 67 73 69, Martin Sell (Wrag Barn) 71 69 69. Evans (£10,000) beat Sell (£5,000) in a sudden death play-off.
211 Daniel Gaunt (Australia) 70 71 70, Kyron Sullivan (Wales) 70 71 70 (£2,100 each).
213 Lloyd Saltman (Aegon) 71 73 69, Mark Ramsdale (Formby) 70 72 71, Ryan Thomas (Aberdare) 71 70 72 (£1,200 each).
215 Graham Rankin (Drumpellier) 71 75 69, Paul Read (Bristol and Clifton) 69 70 76 (£875 each)
Selected score:
219 Craig Lee (Aspire) 74 73 72 (jt 21st) (£365).

COLIN GILLIES WINS AT PRESTONFIELD PRO-AM

By COLIN FARQUHARSON

Braid Hills’ Colin Gillies, the most successful player in Tartan Tour history, added another £956 to his record haul since he turned pro in 1984 by winning the Prestonfield Golf Club pro-am in Edinburgh today (Friday).

Without a win this season up to July, the 43-year-old Gillies – Scottish boys champion at Dunbar in 1983 - has now won twice this month. On July 3 he tied for victory at the Hayston pro-am with Jason McCreadie, so this was Colin’s first outright pro-am win of the year.

Coincidentally, McCreadie was his main rival again but this time the Buchanan Castle man had to settle for the £764 runner-up prize.

Gillies’ two-under-par 68 in the high winds that swept the East coast of Scotland won him the top prize by a single shot from McCreadie with three men – Craig Matheson (Falkirk Tryst), Graham Fox (East Kilbride) and Steven Taylor (Bothwell Castle), sharing third place with par-matching 70s which earned them £449 apiece

Gillies, pictured by Cal Carson Golf Agency, made his score with a three-under-par outward half of 32, the highlight of which was an eagle at the seventh, backed up by birdies at the third and ninth and only one shot dropped, at the third.

Coming home in one-over 36, he birdied the 14th but bogeyed the 10th and 17th.

Chris Doak led the Cruden Homes’ amateur trio of John Murphy (handicap 18), David West (18) and Bill Murphy (9) to victory in the team event with a 12-under-par net total of 58.

PRO TOTALS

Par 70

68 Colin Gillies (Braid Hills) (£956).

69 Jason McCreadie (Buchanan Castle) (£764).

70 Craig Matheson (Falkirk Tryst), Graham Fox (East Kilbride), Steven Taylor (Bothwell Castle) (£449 each).

71 Owen Leslie (Craigentinny), Robert Arnott (Bishopbriggs), Kenny Walker (Castle Park) (£248 each).

72 Andrew Oldcorn (Kings Acre), Mark Kerr (Marriott Dalmahoy), Gordon Law (Uphall), Stephen Gray (Hayston), David Orr (Eastwood), Chris Doak (unatt) £(143 each).

73 Gavin Cook (Prestonfield), Scott Henderson (Kings Links) (£100 each).

74 Gavin Cook (Prestonfield), Ross Dixon (Renaissance Club) (£81 each).

75 David Patrick (Elie), Lindsay Mann (Carnoustie) (£62 each).

76 Mark King (Kingsfield), Chris Kelly (Cawder) (£48 each).

77 Paul McKechnie (Braid Hills0, James McGhee (Turnhouse) (£48 each).

78 Russell McIntyre (Prestonfield) (£48).

80 Paul Hubner (Arabian Ranches) (£48).

81 Graham Mackay (Prestonfield) (£48).

87 Neil Colquhoun (Merchants of Edinburgh) (£48).

ends

Suspension of play a break for Rory after he loses the lead

LATEST NEWS: Play in the Open resumed at 3.45pm after a suspension of 1hr 5min.


FROM THE SCOTSMAN WEBSITE
By ALLAN MACKIEWinds gusting over 40mph today caused play to be suspended during the second round of the Open Championship at St Andrews.
The wind was strong enough to cause balls to move on the more exposed greens of the Old Course, with officials halting play shortly before 2:40pm.
R&A rules secretary David Rickman said: "A number of greens just became unplayable. We had problems at the 12th, 13th, 10th, 11th and seventh, those out at the far end near the estuary.
"The odd ball oscillating happens, the odd ball moving happens, but when you have a series of incidents in close succession that's the time when play is just not possible."
The suspension was possibly good news for Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy, who was on the fourth fairway when the hooter sounded.
McIlroy had enjoyed a two-shot overnight lead after taking full advantage of the near-perfect conditions available to yesterday's early starters, equalling the lowest round in major championship history with a stunning 63.
But by the time he teed off this afternoon, the 21-year-old found himself three off the lead and the blustery wind was picking up.
South African Louis Oosthuizen, second overnight, had added a 67 to his opening 65 to set a testing clubhouse target of 12 under par, equalling the Open record in relation to par established by Nick Faldo and Greg Norman in 1990.
McIlroy began confidently enough, opening with three pars to remain nine under and outright second, with 1989 winner Mark Calcavecchia surprisingly alone in third place on seven under, the 50-year-old having completed a flawless 67 in the first match out at 6:30am.
English duo Lee Westwood and Paul Casey were a shot further back after rounds of 71 and 69 respectively, although both had reason to be slightly disappointed with their position.
Westwood carded 17 pars and just one birdie as he saw several other chances narrowly miss, most noticeably on the ninth.
The world number three was already moving towards the hole to pick the ball out when he saw his birdie attempt catch the hole and spin out – much to his disbelief.
Casey carded five birdies in an outward half of 31 alone, but then ran up a triple-bogey 7 on the famous 17th, taking two shots to hack out of heavy rough to the left of the fairway.
"That's the thickest rough on the golf course and I would just like it thinned out," said Casey unsurprisingly, although he at least birdied the 18th to partially make amends.

Watson goes to talk to wheelchair spectators during Open hiatus

FROM THE GOLFWEEKWEBSITE
By James Achenbach
Tom Watson hit one shot, a driver from the first tee, before play was suspended Friday afternoon because of high winds sweeping over the Old Course at St Andrews for the second round of the Open championship.
While other players remained on the course or retreated to the clubhouse, Watson walked back up the first fairway to the area reserved for spectators in wheelchairs.
There he held court for half an hour, talking and signing autographs.
“I remember one year at the Bing Crosby tournament, we were playing at Cypress Point,” he said. “On the 17th green, Leonard Thompson hit one putt, two putts, three putts, four putts, five putts, six putts. That’s your nightmare. He couldn’t get the ball to stop. It kept rolling and rolling. Finally play was stopped.
“This doesn’t happen once a year, really. It’s very unusual for play to be halted because of wind.”
Watson reminded fans of potential penalties in the wind.
“If you ground your club and the ball moves, it’s a (one-stroke) penalty,” he said. “You have to move the ball back.”
However, if a ball moves before a player has addressed the ball or grounded the club, it must be played from its new position. The ball is not moved back. There is no penalty.
Enough of this golf. Time to talk farming.
“I just love the stone fences around the Scottish countryside,” Watson said. “Back home we use mostly barb wire.”
And so it went with Tom Watson, five-time winner of the Open and adopted son of Scotland.

OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP - DAY TWO

Open halted because of high winds in afternoon

LATER NEWS: Play was suspended for over an hour during the afternoon because of the high winds.
FROM THE AOL GOLF NEWS SERVICE
South African Louis Oosthuizen today set a testing clubhouse target in the second round of the Open Championship.
Oosthuizen, two shots behind leader Rory McIlroy overnight, added a 67 to his opening 65 for a 12-under-par halfway total of 132 and a three-shot lead over McIlroy, who was among the afternoon starters.
In the second group out today at 6:41am, Oosthuizen survived the wildly fluctuating weather to fire seven birdies and two bogeys, including three in a row from the fifth.
"When we got to the fifth the rain was coming down pretty hard and the back nine didn't look too bright at that stage, but we got lucky at 13 when the wind stopped and turned so we played the last five holes downwind," said the 27-year-old.
"I knew I needed to keep calm throughout the round because I knew it was going to be a tough day and I'm very, very happy."
Oosthuizen, who was a collective 23 over par for his three previous Open appearances before this week, holed from three, four and 10ft for his hat-trick of birdies from the fifth, before driving the green on the 386-yard 10th to set up another birdie.
Further birdies on the 12th and 14th were sandwiched between two bogeys, but the former world junior champion also birdied the last with two putts from long range to complete an excellent round.
American Ricky Barnes had looked like being Oosthuizen's closest challenger when he went out in 32 and birdied the 10th as well to reach nine under, but he then ran up a double-bogey 7 on the 14th after tangling with one of the Old Course's fearsome fairway bunkers.
England's Paul Casey, reportedly suffering from a bad chest infection, had nevertheless started with three straight birdies and picked up two more to reach the turn in 31. Four straight pars from the 10th left the Ryder Cup star alone in third on eight under and he went on to finish with a 69 for six-under-par 138.
Casey is still hoping for Major glory on Sunday despite becoming another victim of The Road Hole 17th at St Andrews (says the European Tour Website).
Casey goes into the weekend on six under par after a second successive 69, but seven of those strokes came at The Home of Golf's most terrifying stretch of land.
After going to the turn in a superb 31 and climbing to third place the 32 year old drove into rough so bad that he did not move the ball with his attempted hack out.
The next was just a chop back onto the fairway and after coming up short of the green with his fourth shot he three-putted.
"There's got to be some penalty for going left - that's what this golf course has always been about," said Casey.
"It wasn't a great tee shot and when I got down there I was just trying to go sideways. There was no way of going forward.
"I wanted to go straight sideways, but couldn't go at it too hard because if it came out I could end up in Room 312." The Old Course Hotel lines the right side of the hole.
"So the club just went straight underneath it and from there it was a pretty easy 7.
"To be honest, I'm not even that frustrated with what happened on 17. If you had told me I'd be in the clubhouse on six under I would have bitten your arm off, especially with the conditions we were warming up in this morning."
His repair job following his triple bogey began straightaway with a massive drive down the 18th - "a little bit of anger in there" - and two putts from long range for birdie.
Casey was suffering from a sore throat just before the event, but is able to communicate fully with caddie Christian Donald - Luke's brother - again.
"The throat is croaky, but it's working," he commented. "I felt very rough on Wednesday night and maybe it was a good thing that I was off late yesterday.
"It gave me a bit more time, but Christian doesn't like the fact that my voice has come back."
As for his position Casey added: "I read the Tom Watson quote about whatever she (the course) gave away today she'll take back tomorrow.
"I believe that with links golf, so it's about hanging around. I'd be very impressed if Louis and Rory keep popping in scores like they have - and, if they do, good luck to them."
McIlroy, at 21 looking to become the youngest winner of the Open since Willie Auchterlonie in 1893, set  out at 1:31pm in quite windy conditions but parred his first two holes.
World number three Lee Westwood  he finished his round of 71 by "doing a Doug Sanders (1970)" - missing from around 3ft - easily done on the tricky, sloping 18th green on the Old Course.
Westwood was on six-under-par 144.
Veteran American Mark Calcavecchia, winner of the Open at Royal Troon in 1989 after a four-hole play-off against Greg Norman and Wayne Grady, rolled back the years to return a 67 for seven-under 137.
Another past Open winner, Ben Curtis, did not do so well this year. He had a 73 for 149 and will miss the cut with his five-over-par tally.
So too will a more highly-regarded American in Jim Furyk who had a 73 for 150.
And yet another Open champion, Sandy Lyle, failed to make the weekend action after rounds of 75 and 76 for 151.
SECOND-ROUND TOTALS
Par 144 (2x72)
132 Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 65 67.
137 Mark Calcavecchia (USA) 70 67
138 Paul Casey 69 69, Lee Westwood 67 71
139 Peter Hanson (Swe) 66 73, Ricky Barnes (USA) 68 71, Graeme McDowell 71 68, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 72 67, Tom Lehman (USA) 71 68
140 Robert Karlsson (Swe) 69 71, Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 69 71, Toru Taniguchi (Jpn) 70 70
141 Dustin Johnson (USA) 69 72, Vijay Singh (Fij) 68 73, Shane Lowry 68 73, Y.E. Yang (Kor) 67 74
142 Adam Scott (Aus) 72 70, Jeff Overton (USA) 73 69, Sergio Garcia (Spa) 71 71, Alvaro Quiros (Spa) 72 70, Bradley Dredge 66 76
143 Simon Khan 74 69
144 Kevin Na (USA) 70 74, Marc Leishman (Aus) 73 71, Peter Senior (Aus) 73 71
145 Steve Stricker (USA) 71 74, Colm Moriarty 72 73, Luke Donald 73 72, Scott Verplank (USA) 72 73
146 Hirofumi Miyase (Jpn) 71 75, Rickie Fowler (USA) 79 67
149 Angel Cabrera (Arg) 73 76, Ben Curtis (USA) 76 73
150 Koumei Oda (Jpn) 74 76, Jim Furyk (USA) 77 73, Geoff Ogilvy (Aus) 72 78, Hiroyuki Fujita (Jpn) 75 75
151 Francesco Molinari (Ita) 74 77, Anders Hansen (Den) 77 74, Sandy Lyle 75 76
153 Katsumasa Miyamoto (Jpn) 77 76
154 Jerry Kelly (USA) 79 75

Matt Bettencourt (66) leads Reno-Taho Open

FROM THE SKY SPORTS WEBSITE
Matt Bettencourt made a return to form at the Reno-Tahoe Open, firing a first-round 66 to claim a one-shot lead. The American, who has missed eight cuts in his last 10 events, had six birdies in his opening 13 holes at the Montreux Golf and Country Club.
His first bogey of the day came at the 16th but he bounced back immediately to eagle the par-five 17th.
And, although he finished with a bogey, Bettencourt's six-under effort was enough to put him at the head of the leaderboard.
Former Masters and Open runner up Chris DiMarco is one back after a 67 that included six birdies and just one dropped shot.
"Obviously I still feel like I can win out here," said DiMarco, who has not had a top 10 on the PGA Tour since 2008.
"My confidence is slowly but surely coming back.
"I'm starting to get comfortable on the golf course again. That, I think, is the biggest key, to be relaxed out there. And that's where I am. It's been nice. It really has.
"I just see good things. I've been seeing good strides here for the last month, and I have a lot of confidence, which is good. That's a hard thing to get. It's easy to take away but it's a hard thing to regain. It's coming back."
Two more Americans, Craig Bowden and Will MacKenzie, are tied for third on five under after respective 68s, while a group of 20 - including Sweden's Mathias Gronberg - are together at four under.
FIRST-ROUND SCOREBOARD
Par 72
66 Matt Bettencourt
67 Chris DiMarco
68 Will MacKenzie, Craig Bowden
69 Bill Lunde, Robert Garrigus, Woody Austin, Todd Fischer, Mark Hensby (Aus), Mathias Gronberg (Swe), John Mallinger, Chad Campbell, Craig Barlow, Bob Heintz, Jim, jr. Gallagher, John Merrick, Jim Carter, Steve Allan (Aus), Steve Elkington (Aus), Kevin Streelman, J J Henry, Jarrod Lyle (Aus)
70 David Lutterus (Rsa), Charles Warren, Aron Price (Aus), Scott McCarron, Omar Uresti, Matt Hill, Cliff Kresge, Graham Delaet (Can), Kevin Stadler
71 Kris Blanks, Jonathan Kaye, Garth Mulroy (Rsa), Paul Stankowski, Roger Tambellini, Alex Cejka (Ger), John Rollins, Rich Barcelo
72 Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind), Rodney Pampling (Aus), Jeff Quinney, Greg Kraft, James Nitties (Aus), Seung-su Han (Kor), Guy Boros, Dicky Pride, Henrik Bjornstad (Nor), Nicholas Thompson
73 Marco Dawson, Ben Fox, Jeff Gove, Tim Wilkinson (Nzl), Michael Clark II, Nathan Green (Aus), Steve Pate, Mike Small, Robin Freeman, Stuart Appleby (Aus), Kent Jones, Shiv Kapur (Ind), Joe Ogilvie, Eric Axley, Ted Purdy, Robert Damron, Tom Gillis
74 Vaughn Taylor, Martin Flores, Mark Brooks, Steve Flesch, Steve Wheatcroft, Mark Wilson, Dean Wilson, Cameron Beckman, Josh Teater, Cameron Tringale, Spike McRoy
75 Tom Scherrer, Tom Byrum, John Chin, Vance Veazey, Brenden Pappas (Rsa), Chris Tidland, Matthew Every, Carlos Franco (Par), Johnson Wagner, Skip Kendall
76 Kenny Kim (Swe), Robert Gamez, Willie Wood, Brian Stuard, David Ogrin, Kirk Triplett, Scott Piercy, Blaine McCallister, Grant Waite (Nzl), Jim McGovern, Keih Clearwater, Ernie Gonzalez
77 Brent Delahoussaye, Mitch Lowe, Billy Mayfair, Steve Lowery, Nolan Henke, Alex Prugh, Bob Burns
78 Spencer Levin, Daniel Chopra (Swe), Justin Bolli, Len Mattiace, Kevin Johnson
79 Daniel Miernicki, Ryan Palmer, Mike Heinen
80 Chris Wilson, Erik Compton, Notah Begay III, Carlos Concha, John Morse, Andrew McLardy (Rsa), Matt Weibring
81 Parker McLachlin
82 Chris Smith
83 Ron Strec
WD: Brian Bateman, 83 Jerod Turner

Lanarkshire match-play wash-out

Play in the Lanarkshire men's match-play championship was washed out last night. The quarter-finals will now be played at Hamilton Golf Club on Monday.