British Open notes from Round 2

Ladies and gentleman, your men’s Olympic golf gold medalist …

Henrik Stenson.

Don’t laugh. In fact, with each passing player who decided not to go to Rio de Janeiro in August to compete in the Olympics, Stenson’s chances got stronger and stronger.

As the sixth-ranking player in the world, the 40-year-old Swede has only one other participating player ahead of him, No. 5 Bubba Watson. Stenson is enormously accomplished, with 10 European Tour victories and four wins on the PGA Tour. And he’s as gung-ho about the Olympics as any top player.

He may not win a major in his career, but hanging a gold medal on his neck would be pretty sweet.

“It would be big outside the golfing community,” Stenson said. “It would be to the broader sports crowd and to the whole country. So of course it would be massive. But let’s focus on one thing at a time.”

Always dry in manner and humor, Stenson currently is focused on the British Open, where he enters Saturday’s third round just one shot behind leader Phil Mickelson after notching the second round’s best score, a 6-under-par 65.

Stenson has come close to winning majors numerous times. He has seven top-5 finishes, including his closest call in the British Open -- a 2013 runner-up at Muirfield, where he lost by three shots to Mickelson. In 2014, Stenson tied for fourth in the U.S. Open and third in the PGA Championship, but in the last six majors he hasn’t been a factor.

“I just wanted to turn things around because I know, like I said, I’m 40,” he said. “I’m not going to play these tournaments forever and ever. I don’t have another 50 goes at them. It might be a dozen or 15 in total.

“So I better start putting myself in position and giving myself chances if I want to make it happen.”

Stenson has never wavered on his commitment to playing in the Olympics. In fact, a Swedish documentary crew has been following him and his wife, Anna, for four years in the buildup.

“Of course, there’s been a few guys not entered and, yeah, potentially it’s going to make it a little bit easier for the medal fights,” Stenson said. “But it’s still a strong field at the top and you’ve got to play some good golf if you want to walk home with one of those.”

McIlroy, Johnson contending

Two of the top-four ranked players in the world still have an outside shot of getting into the mix by Sunday. No. 2 Dustin Johnson scored 69 and No. 4 Rory McIlroy shot 71, and they stood at 2-under overall, eight shots off Mickelson’s lead.

Johnson looked in danger of missing the cut when he made his second double-bogey of the day at the “Railway,” par-4 11th. But he made three straight birdies at 15-17.

McIlroy survived after making four bogeys in a five-hole stretch in the middle of the round.

World No. 1 Jason Day made four birdies in a five-hole stretch on his front nine, shot 70 and stood at 1-over. No. 3 Jordan Spieth made a double-bogey at the “Postage Stamp” eighth and shot 75 to make the cut on the number at 4-over.

Etc.

Colin Montgomerie, 53, will get his chance to stroll up 18 at his home club on Sunday. With a 75 the Scot made the cut on the number.

Danny Willett, the Englishman who won this year’s Masters, barely made the weekend at 4-over.

Among those to miss the cut were former Open champions Ernie Els, Louis Oosthuizen, Justin Leonard and John Daly.

tod.leonard@sduniontribune.com