British Open golf resumes at breezy St. Andrews

Second-round play in the 150th anniversary edition of the British Open resumed Saturday with four of leader Louis Oosthuizen's nearest rivals hoping to gain some ground in light winds.

Blustery breezes Friday prompted a 65-minute stoppage for unplayable conditions, the first halt for wind at a British Open since 1998, and the last 30 of 156 players on the Old Course were unable to finish their second rounds.

World number one Tiger Woods and first-round leader Rory McIlroy were among those who struggled in the gales. Woods battled to a one-over 73 and is eight strokes back. McIlroy fired an 80 after an opening 63 to fall 11 off the pace.

Oosthuizen, a South African who missed the cut in seven of his previous eight majors, took advantage of benign early conditions in the second group of the morning Friday to fire a 67 and stand on 12-under 132 after 36 holes.

US veteran Mark Calcavecchia, whose only major victory came at the 1989 British Open, was the first to tee off Friday and stood second in the clubhouse, five strokes behind Oosthuizen at seven-under 137.

Englishmen Lee Westwood and Paul Casey shared third on six-under in the clubhouse with 657th-ranked countryman Steven Tiley, the low man still on the course when play resumed at 6:30 a.m., on six under with eight holes to finish.

South Korean amateur Jeong Jin, the British Amateur champion, was set to join a clubhouse group of seven others on five-under, needing to finish only the 18th hole.

Also on the course at five-under was Spain's Alejandro Canizares, the son of four-time Ryder Cup starter Jose Canizares who had two birdies and two bogeys in the blustery conditions and six holes to finis Saturday.

Darren Clarke, the 1997 Open runner-up who played his way into the field last week at the Scottish Open, was on four-under with three holes to play.

The third round was set to start approximately one hour after Tiley's final group completed the 18th hole, once the cut was made and pairings were drawn.

The cut mark was exactly on 70 players at one-over par when darkness halted play Friday but another dozen players at two-over were on the brink of reaching the last 36 holes depending on how the final groups came home.

England's Justin Rose was set to miss the cut on three-over with five-time former champion Tom Watson saying his goodbyes Friday and three-time major winners Ernie Els and Padraig Harrington also beyond the expected cut line.