LYTHAM ST. ANNES, England — For the balance of the morning wave of tee times, Brandt Snedeker looked like he was playing a different course from the rest of the field.
While some of the world’s top players also with morning times in the second round of the British Open Friday at Royal Lytham, such as Rory McIlroy and Phil Mickelson, were going backward, Snedeker was carding so many birdies you’d have thought he was playing in the Bob Hope in Palm Springs, where low scores are as common as the sunshine out there.
When Snedeker’s second round was over, he’d shot a 6-under-par 64 and entered the clubhouse at 10-under par with a four-shot lead over first-round leader Adam Scott, who was just six holes into his second round at the time.
On the same course playing in the same conditions, Mickelson shot 78 to finish his week at 11-over par to miss the cut and McIlroy shot 75 to stand at 2-over par for the tournament.
Snedeker’s 10-under-par assault of Lytham, which tied the British open 36-hole low total of 130, made little sense considering the fact that he’d missed the British Open cut all three times he’d played (2008, 2009, 2011).
“I’m sure everybody in this room is in about as much shock as I am right now,’’ Snedeker said. “I’ve played honestly pretty well the first two days. No bogeys around here is getting some good breaks and playing some pretty good golf. My mantra all week has been to get the ball on the greens as fast as possible. Once I’m on there I have a pretty good hand for the speed of the greens and every.
“I’m just going to try and keep doing that over the weekend.’’
Since this is as close as he’s been to winning a major since he was in contention at the 2008 Masters, Snedeker was asked if he can “taste’’ victory.
“Well, I can’t taste it,’’ he said. “We’ve got a long way to go. It was pretty cool to see your name atop a major leaderboard at any time, let alone at a British Open. It’s a great feeling, a great experience, but it gets you a whole lot of nothing.
“We’ve got 36 more holes to go, a lot can happen. As anybody can tell, over the course of this year on (the PGA) Tour alone, there’s been a lot of leads lost after 36 holes, and I’m going to try to buck that trend this weekend.
“I’ve got a cushion, which is nice,’’ Snedeker went on. “I don’t have to play the best golf over the next 36 holes; I have to play good golf, but maybe not the best of anybody. So that’s always nice to have. That being said, I’m going to go out there and try to do the exact same things I did the first two days and hit a bunch of greens and make a bunch of putts and try to extend my lead as far as possible.’’
Interestingly Snedeker said he hasn’t even felt great with his swing this week.
“It’s funny, I seem to play my best golf when I don’t feel like my golf swing is right on,’’ Snedeker said. “I feel like my golf swing is close this week, I feel like it’s playing pretty well, but I’m not by any means hitting it on all cylinders. I’m making every 25-footer I look at, so that makes it a lot easier.’’
Snedeker, despite his youthful, wide-eyed appearance, is unafraid.
In his third PGA Tour start, the 2007 Buick Invitational, he shot an 11-under 61 in the first round to tie the course record at Torrey Pines North. In his victory at the 2007 Wyndham Championship in Greensboro, N.C., he shot a final-round 63 to break out of a tie for eighth place and win.
Fellow PGA Tour pro Johnson Wagner, noting Snedeker’s ability as a front runner, said, “When he’s playing well he tends to keep playing well.”
Through 36 holes, Snedeker has hit 31-of-36 greens and 17-of-28 fairways and has taken 58 putts.
“I hope I feel hot over the weekend,’’ Snedeker said. “Typically, when I get going I have no problem going low, and I enjoy that. Typically, when I get my putter rolling I make a lot of putts, and that’s what it takes to go low. So that’s what I’m going to keep trying to do over the weekend.
“If it doesn’t happen, it doesn’t happen, but I’m not going to change anything.’’