July 16, 2010
Open Championship Home Page and Results
ST. ANDREWS, Scotland -- Northwestern rising junior Eric Chun (Ansung City, South Korea/International Christian School) made a bid to make the cut in his first-career Major at the 139th playing of The Open Championship, but legendary St. Andrews battled back against the determined Wildcat to get the best of the amateur Friday, who missed the cut by just a single stroke.
After making his debut Thursday with an incredible 1-under 71 in blustery and wet conditions, Chun played the final six holes of his second round in 4-over par to card a 4-over 76, leaving him in a tie for 83rd place at 3-over 147 for the tournament. A wind delay earlier Friday caused the suspension of play due to darkness before the second round was completed. When play resumed Saturday morning, the cut moved down to 2-over par, meaning Chun came in tied for 78th and was just one shot away from making the cut in his first-ever Major -- a tremendous accomplishment.
Chun took to the course Friday morning and used his putter to keep himself above the projected cut early. He drove the ball far more accurately than he did Thursday; after missing five fairways in the opening round, Chun hit all but two in the second. He battled his approaches, however, hitting only 10 greens in regulation. Contrary to Thursday, the sun Friday was bright and shining, but stiff winds buffeted the field.
Chun's putter made all the difference in his scoring early on. He carded par on every hole on the front nine, with three of those coming after he missed the green in regulation and one-putted to stay in the red overall.
That trend continued on the back after Chun missed the greens at the par-3 11th and the par-4 12th, but got up-and-down to save par for the fourth and fifth times on the round. Ironically, his first bogey of the day came after a 3-putt on the 13th green that put him at even-par for the tournament, one over the projected cut at that moment.
Chun recovered with a par at the long 618-yard par-5 14th before making his sixth one-putt par of the day on No. 15. By that point of the day, the projected cut had moved again to put Chun inside of the threshold, but he carded another three-putt bogey on No. 16 before his second-straight three-putt hole resulted in a disastrous double bogey on the Road Hole to make him 4-over on the round and 3-over in the tournament.
A par on the home hole -- after making his seventh up-and-down par of the day -- concluded Chun's second round. Shortly thereafter, Klaxon horns sounded throughout the course to suspend play due to winds gusting to 40 mph and moving balls on the greens.
Chun's time in Scotland included encounters with many of golf's current greats. He played the 18th with Tiger Woods on Monday, making birdie while Woods carded par. On Tuesday, he hit the links with his childhood hero, fellow South Korean K.J. Choi, and played six holes Wednesday alongside former Northwestern great Luke Donald. He shared the entire experience with NU associate head coach Steve Bailey, who served as his caddy, while head coach Pat Goss also was present while coaching Donald. Bailey's wife, Bethany, took on the role of official NUsports.com photographer for the week, taking great pictures while making the experience a true NU family affair.
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