More forthright insight from Friday's early starters, including veterans Lehman and O'Meara, Lee Westwood, Graeme McDowell and Henrik Stenson
Brushed aside by Danny Willett...
Q - "When you get to the turn, are you thinking about a number you need to post?"
A - "No, you're just trying to play golf." Mark O'Meara sums up why he was 11 shots worse on Friday...
"The short game is key. You have to putt well. I did none of those well. That's why I shot 7-over."
Tom Lehman is even more forthright about his play today...
"Really ugly golf. From the beginning to the end, just seems like I got progressively worse." Could age have anything to do with it? More from Tom...
"I think when you're older, the bad rounds on a difficult course like this tend to be worse than they were when you were 35."
Lehman on yesterday's pin on the 18th...
"The 18th hole, for the speed of the greens, was a terrible pin just because you couldn't go long. Anything past the hole was going to go 6 to 8 feet by, and I don't know if that's what you want."
Lehman on making three times as many as he was hoping on 15...
"I hit a wedge there that almost went in the hole, trickled off to the right and ended up going in the bunker. I'm thinking 2 and ended up with a 6." Lehman gets a journalist to effectively answer his own question when asked why there were so many good scores from Americans yesterday...
A - "Who knows why"
Q - "There are 49 here from America."
A - "That's quite a lot!"
Lee Westwood predicts a torrid afternoon for the late starters.
"It was just getting harder as the holes progressed, tougher to score, tougher to get it close. Two under could be leading at the end of the day."
"It's tough for everybody, so smile your way through."
Graeme McDowell was content with making the cut and predicted a very tough weekend for the field...
"I only win when I make cuts. Get your money on me now! Literally anything a little under par could win a this point." On playing partner Woods...
"Tiger certainly looks like he's very close to being back. There will be no surprise to me if he's picking up the Claret Jug on Sunday night."
Tiger Woods was cautiously optimistic about his chances but spoke of the difficulty the players would face over the weekend..
"It's tough out there. It's so fast. Today I hit a couple of six-irons that were going 280 and a sand wedge that went 180. It's going to be a big test."
On his Open and future major prospects...
"I'm not going to win every major I play in, but I can certainly try to put myself there. If I give myself enough opportunities I'll get my share, and I think I have so far in my career."
