It was a Saturday at The Open completely dominated by the mighty winds of the Scottish coast but the second round was completed with 11 Aussies making the cut.

Play was suspended on Friday night due to darkness with just nine Australians finishing their second rounds, including Adam Scott who is tied 4^th on 7-under the card and just three shots behind leader
Dustin Johnson, while the others had a long Saturday ahead of them.

Play resumed at St Andrews at 7am on Saturday but was quickly suspended again with strong winds moving balls on the greens at The Old Course.

It was less than an ideal situation for the world’s oldest championship however the governing body of golf, the Royal and Ancient, returned players to the course when it was playable and saw the second round finally completed by the end of Saturday.

"It has been a tough and frustrating day for everyone," said Peter Dawson, Chief Executive of the R&A.

"Traditionally, here at St Andrews, if the 11^TH green works, then everything works, and we putted and marked balls, and we placed them back and putted again and, while it was very windy, we did not get one ball that moved so we took the view the course was playable."

"However, very soon after play began, balls did, in fact, start to move, which was very different to what we had experienced up to quarter to seven and that ended up in a suspension of play," add Dawson who has now confirmed that The Open champion will be decided on Monday.

"We’re now back in normal Open mode, albeit a day late, with the new Champion being crowned on Monday evening."

Jason Day, who is positioned to have his best ever finish at The Open, battled through his remaining seven holes of round two to post 1-under 71 and remain in contention with Scott on 7-under the card.

"It was tough because we waited around all day yesterday and I went to sleep between 11am and 12pm then woke up at 4.30am and played one hole, it was kind of frustrating, but you just can’t let it get to you," said Day.

"Then we waited around until about 6pm to get out there and I played ok, it was just really tough conditions, but I holed a lot of good clutch putts coming in and made a good birdie on 18."

With a strong mental attitude, Day is determined to try and win The Open.

"I really want to win a Major so bad that I just can’t afford to let it frustrate me, I just have to keep moving forward to take it hole by hole and get this done."

"I played pretty solid, shot 1-under which was good in that wind, but it’s over now and I have round three and round four to go."

Greg Chalmers also managed to shot 1-under 71 in those conditions and is now 3-under the card and tied 25th. 

Also having to finish his second round on Saturday was John Senden, he held on to shoot an even par round and make the cut on the number as did Scott Arnold.

Making his Major debut this week, Scott Arnold played some extremely impressive golf on Saturday as the weather wreaked havoc on St Andrews.

The New South Welshman reeled off four consecutive birdies starting at the 12^th to ensure his place in the final two rounds of The Open.

Scott Hend and Adam Bland weren’t as fortunate; the challenges of Saturday taking their toll on the Aussie pair and seeing them miss the cut.

The 144^th Open Championship saw Australia’s largest contingent vying for the Claret Jug since 2008. Of the 15 Aussies who started the tournament 11 still remain including Adam Scott (-7), Jason Day (-7), Steven Bowditch (-5), Geoff Ogilvy (-5), Matt Jones (-3), Greg Chalmers (-3), Brett Rumford
(-2), Marc Leishman (-1), Marcus Fraser (-1), John Senden (E), and Scott Arnold (E).

Those Australians who have said good bye to St Andrews and ended their Open campaigns after the second round are Scott Hend (+2), Adam Bland (+5), Scott Strange (+6) and Rod Pampling (+8).

The third round of The Open will tee off at 8.15am local time, 5.15pm AEST with Scott Arnold leading out the field. The leaders will then commence at 3pm local time, 12am AEST.

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