Senior British Open 2015: Leaderboard Scores and Highlights from Friday

Tim DanielsJul 24, 2015

Colin Montgomerie surged into an eight-way tie for the lead at the 2015 Senior British Open on Friday before play was suspended due to heavy rain. Six members of the group at five-under par didn't get a chance to start the second round because of the conditions.

European Tour referee David Williams explained the current outlook for the rest of the tournament, which would still see a winner crowned on Sunday.

"The plan will be to finish round two tomorrow and then start round three," he said. "All going well, we'll start round three as a two-tee start. We'll have probably have an hour or so of play left to then finish up on Sunday morning. Then we'll probably go with threeballs off one tee and finish when we're supposed to."

Tournament Leaderboard

Rank	Golfer	Country	Score	Hole
T-1	Colin Montgomerie	SCO	-5	12
T-1	Bart Bryant	USA	-5	2
T-1	Jeff Sluman	USA	-5	-
T-1	Lee Janzen	USA	-5	-
T-1	Bernhard Langer	GER	-5	-
T-1	Miguel Angel Jimenez	ESP	-5	-
T-1	Marco Dawson	USA	-5	-
T-1	Michael Allen	USA	-5	-
T-9	Lianwei Zhang	CHN	-4	11
T-9	Paul Goydos	USA	-4	3
T-9	Brian Henninger	USA	-4	1

For a complete list of the current scores visit the European Tour's official site.

Day 2 Recap

The weather made scoring conditions far more difficult early on Friday than they were during Round 1. Nobody that made it onto the course had a score better than two-under par, which is what Montgomerie posted through 12 holes before the rain halted the action.

He actually held the lead for awhile after birdieing three of his first five holes. He ended up sandwiching two bogeys around a birdie over his final three holes, however, as the rain's impact became more apparent.

The European Senior Tour highlighted the unplayable state of the course:

Montgomerie is the owner of three Senior Grand Slam titles, including the PGA Championship earlier this season. He's striking the ball tremendously so far this week, but one mistake on Thursday (double bogey) and the water-logged bogeys on Friday have kept him close to the pack.

The day's other biggest movers were Duffy Waldorf, Ian Woosnam and Woody Austin. They all shaved a pair of strokes off their score early in the day to reach three-under par, leaving them in a tie for 12th and just two shots behind the crowded lead pack.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, Mark Mouland started the day in a tie for ninth (-4) and finished it outside the top 60. After parring every hole on the front half, he struggled on the back side with five bogeys to fall out of the mix. Once again, the rain played a role.

Of course, the weather is always a key factor in the Open Championship, regardless of the tour. Between the wind and the rain, catching the right tee times is crucial to success. It's something the regular tour players learned last week at St. Andrews, as Guntur Dwiarmein of Sportcal noted:

Looking ahead, the Weather Channel projects just a 10 percent chance of precipitation on Saturday, but that number jumps up to 80 percent on Sunday. Depending on the timing and intensity of the rain, it could lead to another Monday finish, like last week when Zach Johnson raised the Claret Jug.

Those who didn't even make it on to the course on Friday probably gain an advantage. Conditions should be a lot more favorable throughout Saturday, and by the time the final round arrives, all of the leaders will be playing in the same weather.

Reigning champion Bernhard Langer falls in that group and remains the player to beat. But all signs point to a highly competitive battle all the way until the final holes on Sunday or Monday.