2017 British Open leaderboard breakdown: Scores, Round 2 coverage, golf highlights

Leaderboard scores and a breakdown of Round 2 at the 146th Open Championship at Royal Birkdale

By Kyle Porter

& Chip Patterson

Jul 21, 2017 at 4:07 pm ET • 4 min read

After seven straight first-time major winners, the 146th Open Championships seems due to break the streak. The breakthroughs made by Sergio Garcia, Dustin Johnson and Henrik Stenson have been career-changing and career-defining, but it's about time we get Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy going head-to-head on Sunday with a major championship on the line.

At Royal Birkdale, it looks like we might have a chance to see it after both players posted two of the best rounds of the day.

McIlroy has a lot more ground to make up, five strokes behind Spieth for the championship and just one better on the day, but given his recent performances and the streak of missed cuts, even getting to the weekend would have been worth commending. Now he's in the top-10 and putting well (24 putts across 18 holes on Friday), and when Rory even is an average putter, he's good enough to win.

Spieth's tendency to just hang around in golf tournaments comes from his ability to get buckets. Friday was no different with long putts dropping, absurd approaches and a chip-in for par from off the green on 10.

It feels like Spieth's championship to lose right now, but McIlroy will be ready to hunt him down and there are world-class talents like Matt Kuchar, Ian Poulter and U.S. Open champion Brooks Koepka in the mix. First-time winners have been fun to cheer over the last two years, but it's great to see the big names up top heading into the weekend.

Here's how the leaderboard looks going into Saturday:

1. Jordan Spieth (-6): He didn't play as well as the 69 indicates, but those par saves and especially the eagle on 15 are just commonplace for Spieth when he's at the top of his game. He faced some of the worst weather of the day but capitalized in stretches when the weather cleared up. After coming up short two years ago, Spieth is the headliner and the favorite to win at Royal Birkdale.

2. Matt Kuchar (-4): It was a battle for Kuchar the whole way, trying to estimate and adjust based on the howling wind that really picked up as he was making the turn. After a bogey-free round on Thursday, Kuchar was grinding, picking up three birdies and four bogeys (two in the last three holes) on his way to a 71.

T3. Ian Poulter (-3): A 70 on Friday brought about as much relief as Thursday's 67 for Poulter with the tougher conditions, and the 41-year-old leaned on his exquisite short game to card 16 pars and hang right there in contention for his first major win at 3-under for the championship.

T3. Brooks Koepka (-3): One of the places where Koepka has been so good in his last two competitive rounds (final round at Erin Hills and Thursday at Royal Birkdale) has been around the greens. Koepka finished yesterday with only 21 putts and then the law of averages set in, recording 31 on Friday in a round of 16 pars and two bogeys. Koepka faced some of the worst weather of the day and did a lot of grinding but is still just three strokes off the lead heading into the weekend.

5. Richie Ramsay (-2): There was a huge crowd at 2-under at the end of Thursday but that much of that group fell back while Ramsay played solid and shot a 70 to remain near the top of the leaderboard. The pride of Aberdeen is one of only two Scots to make the cut and trying to become the first Open Championship winner from Scotland since Paul Lawrie won at Carnoustie in 1999.

T6. Rory McIlroy (-1): No one made a more impressive move up the leaderboard than McIlroy, and his 68 finished as third-lowest score at Royal Birkdale on Friday, bested only by Zach Johnson's 66 and Chan Kim's 67. McIlroy birdied three of his first six holes to go out in 31 and then dropped a handful of impressive par-saving putts on the second nine -- which played much tougher than the front on Friday -- and got off the course before the heavy rain started.

T6. Austin Connelly (-1): The 20-year-old Canadian hung in there despite missing about half of the fairways and greens in regulation and was even 1-under on the day through 12 holes before bogeys at 13, 14 and 18. Still, T8 and under par for the championship is a great spot for him going into the weekend.

T6. Richard Bland (-1): The 44-year-old Bland started with two birdies in his first four holes but fell out of contention for a spot with the leaders with three bogeys later in the round and a double-bogey on 13. Still, a 72 was a better-than-average score on the day and good enough to keep him in the top-10.

T6. Gary Woodland (-1): The highlight of the day may have been Gary Woodland's eagle on 5 in the driving rain. He followed that up with bogeys on 6 and 7 but got those strokes back later in the round with a pair of birdies on the back nine.