TROON, Scotland – Not everyone was going the wrong way during a torturous second round of The Open.
Just ask Joaquin Niemann and Bob MacIntyre.
Niemann appeared to torpedo his chances Friday when he made a mess of the Postage Stamp hole with just a wedge in his hand. He found three different bunkers on the 120-yard par 3, then added a three-putt from 30 feet, to walk off with a quintuple-bogey 8.
Even he lost track of his score during the eighth-hole meltdown.
“I was going to start counting what I did,” Niemann said afterward, “but I just stopped and I didn’t count. I just saw the scoreboard on the next hole.”
But turning toward the back nine (which historically plays more difficult but is actually easier so far this year with a helping breeze), Niemann put together a stout nine holes that didn’t just push him onto the weekend – it vaulted him into contention.
Niemann came home in 31 to post a second consecutive round of even-par 71. He sits in a tie for 11th, seven shots back of Shane Lowry at the halfway point.
“You’re always going to have tough holes, and you’re going to try to recover out of that,” he said. “That’s what made me proud when I finished the round. It was great to see that happen and shoot a good round on the back nine.”
MacIntyre’s rally was even more spirited.
Last week’s winner at the Scottish Open looked like he was headed toward a disappointing early exit after he made a pair of triple bogeys in his first four holes Friday – including a miscue on No. 4, when he swept directly under the ball in the tall fescue – and went out in 43.
Though his head was “completely gone,” he was reeled back into the present by his caddie, Mike Burrow. They talked it out – how MacIntyre hadn’t hit many poor tee balls. And in fact, upon further review, he hadn’t hit any at all.
“I started to realize, You know what, you actually haven’t played that bad, and you’re shooting gazillions here,” MacIntyre said, “and that’s where we calmed down and got closer down into the left wind where we could actually play some golf.”
And like Niemann a few groups ahead of him, MacIntyre rebounded in a big way.
From “staring 90 in the face,” MacIntyre played his last 12 holes in 4 under par to sign for a 75 that at least gave him a weekend tee time in front of the home crowd.
That support played a big part in his revival. At one point, Burrow told him: “Look – fans are here to watch. Just give them what they want – a severe dig and fight.
“And that’s what I’ve done,” MacIntyre said.
Sure, the fierce wind that blew during the middle of the round began to taper late in the day. But overall, players in the afternoon wave averaged more than two shots higher than those who started in the morning.
It made the gritty comebacks even more satisfying.
“The start wasn’t good, but the end was good,” MacIntyre said. “You’ve just got to try to calm yourself down and fight as hard as you can.”