Juvic hopes to make cut despite shaky 72

MANILA, Philippines - Juvic Pagunsan holed out with a bogey on No. 18 for the second straight day and finished with a two-over 72, finding himself in danger of missing the cut in his first Major at the British Open Friday at the Royal Lytham and St Annes in England.

Counting his opening 71, the 34-year-old Filipino shotmaker pooled a three-over 143 after 36 holes and found himself in joint 83rd with half of the 156-player field still to complete the second round play and with the middle ranking changing in every twirl of the wind.

The top 70 players plus ties will advance to the Open weekend.

Pagunsan, who topped last year’s Asian Tour Order of Merit to gain a berth here, actually stood in 70th place after he birdied No. 17 but reeled back after failing to get up-and-down on the tough finishing hole.

Still, he remains hopeful of his chances to snatch a berth in the final two rounds with tougher conditions expected in afternoon featuring the world’s top guns, including first day leader Adam Scott and former world No. 1 Tiger Woods.

Pagunsan, who shrugged off opening day jitters to shoot a gutsy one-over card, bogeyed two of the first three holes in one of the early flights then dropped another stroke on the par-5 seventh to fall as far as 110th.

But he fought back with back-to-back birdies from No. 8 for a 35 to move up again in contention but bogeyed the only other par-5 on No. 11. He recovered the stroke with a birdie on the par-3 12th but flubbed a six-footer for par on the 14th for another bogey.

“I was a bit nervous on the first tee when they called my name … being my first Major and with the crowd there,” said Pagunsan after the first round.

“However, it was very exciting to come out for the first day. I focused on my swing and how I wanted to put my ball on the fairway. If you miss it, it’s tough. I missed my drive on the left on 18 and I was actually lucky to make bogey there.”

American Brandt Snedeker birdied two of the first six holes to tie Scott at six-under with the Australian ace still to start his second round, along with Paul Laurie and Zach Johnson, who both had 65s in the first round.

Meanwhile, despite another morning that was custom-made for going low, they were spraying shots all over the place at a water-logged Open.

Rory McIlroy knocked his ball onto an adjoining tee box. Phil Mickelson, Steve Stricker and Keegan Bradley got in plenty of work on their bunker shots. And no one took a bigger tumble than the big-hitting Belgian, Nicolas Colsaerts.

Perhaps the most surprising player of the opening round with a 65, Colsaerts played the first seven holes at 5-over par, tumbling off a leaderboard.

McIlroy was forced into scramble mode by several wayward shots, most notably his second shot from the right rough at No. 3. He yanked it far left of the green, the ball plopping down on the fourth tee box and giving a bit of a jolt to Toshinori Muto, who was getting ready to hit his drive. McIlroy actually caught a break, his ball barely avoiding the thick rough, but he still took a bogey.

The young Northern Irishman also bogeyed the sixth, but a pair of birdies had him even on the day and 3 under for the tournament, right in the thick of things.                – With AP report