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St Andrews - St Andrews bared its teeth on Friday as brutal winds scattered the British Open field, leaving early starter Louis Oosthuizen to emerge from the wreckage with an astonishing five-shot lead.
Oosthuizen's second-round 67, which took him to 12 under 132, looked a testing target when the 27-year-old South African finished at lunchtime but Mother Nature whipped up a gale which halted play for an hour and left his lead looking more impregnable with every 40mph gust.
Tiger Woods, who went within inches of a showstopping hole-in-one at the 18th, clung on at four under, Rory McIlroy collapsed from a record 63 to an 80 and St Andrews bade farewell to one of its favourite sons as Tom Watson missed the cut.
When the hooter sounded at 21h45 local time, 10 groups were yet to complete their rounds and must resume at 06h30 on Saturday with the projected cut at two over.
Oosthuizen, who missed the cut in all three previous Opens he contested and has one European Tour win to his name, was expected to be swallowed up by the field on Friday but he was having none of it.
With the day's best weather and an elegant swing to match, Oosthuizen fired seven birdies and two bogeys and is poised to take the biggest halfway lead at the Open since American Bobby Clampett in 1982.
"I'm very confident the way I'm playing," said Oosthuizen, nicknamed Shrek by his friends. "I'm okay with anyone waking up and seeing my name on the top."
He led by five from 1989 champion Mark Calcavecchia (67), who struck the first tee shot of the day in what turned out to be the best conditions, and by six from three Englishmen - Paul Casey, Lee Westwood and Steve Tiley, who has eight holes left.
"I'm hitting it well," Oosthuizen told reporters. "I'm just having a lot of fun."
Fun it certainly was not for McIlroy.
On Thursday, after setting the Old Course alight with a record 63, he said he did not mind what the weather was like on Friday as long as it was dry.
Well, it was dry alright but unsettling wind soon brought the 21-year-old Northern Irishman back to earth. He fired nine birdies on Thursday and the course took all but one of them back on Friday, his birdie-free round of 80 leaving him on one under.
"It was a lot of ups and downs, more downs than ups today," he said.
Woods had barely started his round when Royal and Ancient officials deemed enough was enough and sounded the hooter to prompt a 65-minute suspension of play because of the high winds buffeting the famed Fife links.
The break found Woods in playful mood, sharing smoked almonds with his playing partners, but the interruption did his game little good.
He opened bogey-bogey and gritted his teeth through the remainder of a tough round, firing a one-over 73 which he described as his best of the year.
"I'm eight back and today was a day I could have easily shot myself out of the tournament, especially the start I got off to, but I put it back together again and pieced together a pretty good round," said the world number one.
Just as Woods was preparing for an eagle putt after his astonishing drive at the 18th, emotional scenes were developing back at the tee.
Watson, in his last Open at St Andrews and certain to miss the cut, kissed the Swilcan Bridge and mouthed: "I love you" to the crowd as he bid farewell, his face illuminated by the myriad of camera flashes in the fading Scottish dusk.
After Woods putted out for birdie, Watson was greeted by thunderous applause as fans lined the 18th fairway.
The 60-year-old American did not disappoint. With a flick of the wrists he sent his second to within an inch of the cup for a certain birdie.
Watson holed out before shaking every official's hand, offering a few quiet words of advice to playing partner Ryo Ishikawa and retiring to the scorer's hut one final time here.
"I thought of Arnold (Palmer) on the bridge, I thought of Jack (Nicklaus) on the bridge, and their last Opens were both right here at St Andrews. My last Open is not right here, the good Lord willing," said Watson.
When Casey and Westwood trudged off the course during the soggy early conditions, they could little have expected they would end the day in a share for third place.
"I played a lot better than my score suggests," said Westwood, who fired 17 pars and a solitary birdie at the fifth.
Casey struck a superlative outward five under 31 and looked set to run Oosthuizen close until calamity struck at the revered 17th 'Road' hole.
His tee shot found the left-hand rough and he needed two slashes to get it clear of the thick gorse. He went on to triple-bogey but a birdie at the last salvaged his day.
"I wanted to go straight sideways but couldn't go at it too hard because if I went at it too hard and it came out, I could end up in Room 312 (of the Old Course Hotel)," said Casey.
A cluster of seven players were in the clubhouse on five under including 1996 winner Tom Lehman, U.S. Open champion Graeme McDowell and Spain's Miguel Angel Jimenez.
Scores after Friday's play (round incomplete due to weather conditions)
132 - Louis Oosthuizen (RSA) 65-67
137 - Mark Calcavecchia (USA) 70-67
138 - Paul Casey (ENG) 69-69, Lee Westwood (ENG) 67-71
139 - Tom Lehman (USA) 71-68, Ricky Barnes (USA) 68-71, Peter Hanson (SWE) 66-73, Miguel Angel Jimenez (ESP) 72-67, Graeme McDowell (NIR) 71-68, Retief Goosen (RSA) 69-70, Sean O'Hair (USA) 67-72
140 - Ignacio Garrido (ESP) 69-71, Toru Taniguchi (JPN) 70-70, Robert Karlsson (SWE) 69-71, Martin Kaymer (GER) 69-71, Nick Watney (USA) 67-73, Tiger Woods (USA) 67-73
141 - Shane Lowry (IRL) 68-73, Vijay Singh (FIJ) 68-73, YE Yang (KOR) 67-74, Dustin Johnson (USA) 69-72, Ryo Ishikawa (JPN) 68-73
142 - Jeff Overton (USA) 73-69, Bradley Dredge (WAL) 66-76, Alvaro Quiros (ESP) 72-70, Adam Scott (AUS) 72-70, Sergio Garcia (ESP) 71-71, Marcel Siem (GER) 67-75, John Daly (USA) 66-76, Trevor Immelman (RSA) 68-74
143 - Simon Khan (ENG) 74-69, Andrew Coltart (SCO) 66-77, Lucas Glover (USA) 67-76, Rory McIlroy (NIR) 63-80, Camilo Villegas (COL) 68-75
144 - Peter Senior (AUS) 73-71, Kevin Na (USA) 70-74, Marc Leishman (AUS) 73-71, Phil Mickelson (USA) 73-71, Thomas Aiken (RSA) 71-73, John Senden (AUS) 68-76, Simon Dyson (ENG) 69-75, Robert Allenby (AUS) 69-75, Ian Poulter (ENG) 71-73, Stewart Cink (USA) 70-74
145 - Colm Moriarty (IRL) 72-73, Scott Verplank (USA) 72-73, Luke Donald (ENG) 73-72, Steve Stricker (USA) 71-74, Colin Montgomerie (SCO) 74-71, Edoardo Molinari (ITA) 69-76, Heath Slocum (USA) 71-74, Steve Marino (USA) 69-76, Hunter Mahan (USA) 69-76, Ross Fisher (ENG) 68-77
146 - Hirofumi Miyase (JPN) 71-75, Rickie Fowler (USA) 79-67, Zach Johnson (USA) 72-74, Richard S Johnson (SWE) 73-73, Danny Chia (MAS) 69-77, Robert Rock (ENG) 68-78, Soren Kjeldsen (DEN) 72-74, Charl Schwartzel (RSA) 71-75
147 - Eric Chun (KOR) 71-76, Bubba Watson (USA) 74-73, Oliver Wilson (ENG) 68-79, Thomas Bjorn (DEN) 70-77, Justin Rose (ENG) 70-77
148 - Rhys Davies (WAL) 73-75, Ben Crane (USA) 72-76, Gareth Maybin (NIR) 72-76, Ryuichi Oda (JPN) 76-72, Noh Seung-Yul (KOR) 72-76, Ross McGowan (ENG) 68-80, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (ESP) 72-76, Ernie Els (RSA) 69-79, Tom Watson (USA) 73-75
149 - Ben Curtis (USA) 76-73, Angel Cabrera (ARG) 73-76, Jason Bohn (USA) 75-74, DA Points (USA) 72-77, Todd Hamilton (USA) 72-77
150 - Koumei Oda (JPN) 74-76, Jim Furyk (USA) 77-73, Geoff Ogilvy (AUS) 72-78, Hiroyuki Fujita (JPN) 75-75, Justin Leonard (USA) 76-74, KJ Choi (KOR) 76-74, Paul Goydos (USA) 74-76, Bill Haas (USA) 73-77, Yuta Ikeda (JPN) 72-78, Padraig Harrington (IRL) 73-77
151 - Anders Hansen (DEN) 77-74, Sandy Lyle (SCO) 75-76, Francesco Molinari (ITA) 74-77, Tim Petrovic (USA) 71-80, Jean Hugo (RSA) 76-75, Paul Lawrie (SCO) 69-82, Loren Roberts (USA) 73-78, Soren Hansen (DEN) 72-79, Tim Clark (RSA) 71-80
152 - Kurt Barnes (AUS) 75-77, Darren Fichardt (RSA) 74-78, Paul Streeter (ENG) 76-76, Josh Cunliffe (RSA) 75-77, Shunsuke Sonoda (JPN) 74-78
153 - Katsumasa Miyamoto (JPN) 77-76, Victor Dubuisson (FRA) 80-73, Mathew Goggin (AUS) 74-79, Alexander Noren (SWE) 73-80, Nick Faldo (ENG) 72-81
154 - Jerry Kelly (USA) 79-75, Thomas Levet (FRA) 73-81, Ryan Moore (USA) 70-84
155 - Jose Manuel Lara (ESP) 80-75, Brian Gay (USA) 72-83, Tyrrell Hatton (ENG) 78-77, Park Jae-bum (KOR) 76-79, George McNeill (USA) 78-77, Jason Dufner (USA) 73-82, David Duval (USA) 77-78
156 - Gary Clark (ENG) 79-77
157 - Glen Day (USA) 78-79, Martin Laird (SCO) 74-83
160 - Laurie Canter (ENG) 81-79
165 - Simon Edwards (USA) 79-86
