Rickie Fowler Stands Firm at The Open

Rickie Fowler stands firm at The Open today, as the gusts picked up during the second round. A second round of 71 leaves the American on 142, two over par at the halfway point. In these conditions the score is better than it looks.

Back-to-back birdies at the sixth and seventh holes this morning took Fowler’s overall score to one under par, but three dropped shots over the next five holes halted his progress.

As the gusts picked up across the back nine, Fowler kept his patience and ground out six closing pars.

“Today's was a better 71 than yesterday’s,” said Fowler, 28, after his round. “I got it around and made a couple of good birdies early, and then a couple of dumb bogeys with some three-putts. I could have turned it into a little better round but it wasn't easy out there.”

Coming off the 18th Fowler stood in a tie for 47^th but with the winds forecast to pick up this afternoon and with showers also expected, watching from the clubhouse could feel increasingly comfortable.

“It was fun,” added Fowler, who has played well in difficult conditions at The Open before. “I love playing in the wind. It creates a bit of a challenge and I felt I did a good job of it. If I could take away those two three-putts I shoot under-par, which is a great score out there.

“At the Open you never know what weather is going to happen or when it's going to happen, so you just play and make the most of it. It will be interesting to see this afternoon, I know there's potential for bad weather.”

Joint leaders at five under par at the time of writing, Americans Jordan Spieth and Brooks Koepka, have late second round tee times at 2:48 and 3:10 respectively, and Fowler admits that Spieth could be hard to catch: “Seeing the start that Jordan got off to in the first round, that is a big thing for him. He is in a good position and he’s a grinder.”

Rickie Fowler is a brand ambassador for Mercedes-Benz – an Official Patron and the Official Car of The Open.