Column: Dustin Johnson and Jordan Spieth a breezy pair at windy British Open

However it happened, give the British Open officials a thumbs up for their pairing of the J&J boys, Johnson and Jordan.

It was the longest day here Saturday. That phrase, once notable as a war movie, shall now be best known as a 10-hour, 28-minute delay of an already delayed second round of the 144th British Open.

Chicago gets all props as the Windy City, even though politicians’ wind is the real reason for the nickname. But no windy city can top this historic town on the East Coast of Scotland, which is often in the direct path of the anger of the North Sea.

These weren’t palm trees blowing in Miami Beach. This was rip-your-cap-off and knock-you-against-the-wall wind. It breaks wind-breakers.

The gusts continued up to 40 mph all day, and while nothing much in golf could happen while thousands of paying spectators were held hostage, at least we had Dustin Johnson and Jordan Spieth, together again. British officials can pair players up any way they want to, and don’t think there wasn’t a glint in somebody’s eye when they did this one. It is great golf yin and yang.

Remember the recent history.

At Chambers Bay a month ago, Spieth, a 21-year-old marvel, won his second straight major title by one shot. That shot behind was Johnson, a golfing marvel himself, with the ability to hit golf balls to Mars and the occasional tendency to make decisions on the course as if he comes from there.

At Chambers Bay, there was no grounding a club in a sand trap or driving the ball onto a beach. Johnson three-putted from 12 feet on the last hole.

Johnson is 31, and has two fewer major titles than the playing partner 10 years his junior with whom he teed it up for the first two rounds here. After Johnson’s putting failure on the 72nd hole of the U.S. Open, Spieth said all the right things about concern for his fellow pro’s emotional state after such a scarring collapse.

Hideki Matsuyama, whose first language is obviously not English and goes about his golfing business quietly, was the third member of the group.

So it mostly was Spieth and Johnson, the J&J boys, together again, seeming to enjoy each other’s company and playing off each other like a big-banging Mutt and a tactically plotting Jeff.

The first day, Johnson drove it to Mars often. “It’s a real eye-opener, watching somebody fly past the bunkers at 360 yards,” Spieth said. Johnson led the tournament with a seven-under 65. Close behind, scratching around and playing distance catch-up, was Spieth, getting it to five-under 67.

They were stopped by darkness Friday and had to go out at 7 a.m. Saturday to finish their last five holes. Immediately, they faced major objections from the North Sea.

They began with shots from just off the green on No. 14. They had marked their balls the night before. Matsuyama had smartly elected to putt out Friday night.

There was little question this wind could move a golf ball on a putting green. Officials should have been more concerned about cars in the parking lots.

The ruling R&A, Royal and Ancient, said later it had taken its wind meters and weather experts out to the far reaches of the course, the holes most exposed to the sea. They said the wind wasn’t moving balls on the 11th green, the place most susceptible to that.

At 7 a.m., the golfers had found their stations to resume and soon, Johnson was chipping from just off the 14th green. The shot stopped on a little ledge and Johnson went to mark it.

“I got to about an inch over the ball and it started to move,” he said, chuckling in amazement. He tried to get to it again as it rolled back down and appeared to stop, but when he got close, pushed by another gust, it took off again.

Spieth, stocking cap pulled down over his ears as if he was playing in the Anchorage Open, saw his ball in the path of Johnson’s coming down the hill. He made a herky-jerky dash to try to get it marked in case Johnson’s hit his, even though the rules would have let him put it back.

But he was too late, Johnson’s ball rolled past and Johnson said he saw Spieth and giggled.

Spieth two-putted for par, Johnson three-putted for bogey.

Twenty-three minutes later, the R&A called it off. Spieth, coming off the green, was overheard saying that they never should have been sent out in the first place.

That gave the British media, which eats controversy like peanuts, something to chew on — to blog, tweet and question bored fans in the stands — for the next 10 hours.

The golfing resumed at 6 p.m. local time. Soon, Johnson and Spieth came to the 365-yard-drivable-with-the-wind 18th hole and drove it — “smoothed a drive out there,” Spieth said — and both made birdies.

Johnson shot 69 and held the 36-hole lead at 10 under par. Spieth shot even-par 72 and was five shots back.

Spieth, as smooth with the media as he was with that drive on 18, deflected any controversy about what he said about the R&A by admitting it, and adding the R&A, given a mulligan, would probably agree. It had, earlier.

Johnson, asked about the same controversy later, smiled and pretty much admitted he was with Spieth on that.

“I’m sure I said a few things,” he said.

So there they were, the J&J boys, almost a tag team.

Separated by five shots, they will not be paired together for Sunday’s third round. But pairings are redone again for Monday’s final.

It could happen. Wouldn’t that be fun?

bill.dwyre@latimes.com

Twitter: @DwyreLATimes