Lowry tames elements to take lead into the weekend at The Open

Round 2

Shane Lowry believes he is ready to take whatever is thrown at him “on the chin” after keeping his bid for a second Open title firmly on track at Royal Troon.

Lowry added a second round of 69 to his opening 66 for a halfway total of seven under par and two-shot lead over English duo Justin Rose and Dan Brown, who both came through 36-hole final qualifiers earlier this month.

World number one Scottie Scheffler, Billy Horschel and Dean Burmester are five shots off the lead on two under par, with Jason Day, Xander Schauffele, Patrick Cantlay and Corey Conners all one under.

With a strong wind sending scores soaring for the later starters, Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, Bryson DeChambeau, Ludvig Aberg and Tommy Fleetwood all missed the cut, but home favourite Robert MacIntyre and Justin Thomas fought back from horror starts to make the weekend.

Lowry also recovered from a double bogey on the 11th with birdies on the 16th and 18th as he bids to lift the Claret Jug for a second time following his triumph at Royal Portrush in 2019.

Surprise overnight leader Brown, who had completed a flawless 65 at 9.33pm on Thursday, battled to a second round of 72, while Rose returned a superb 68 and has dropped just one shot in 36 holes.

Lowry felt he had “done the hard part” on the 11th by getting his tee shot in play, but was distracted by a cameraman on his second shot and pulled it into the gorse.

After taking a penalty drop Lowry hit his fourth shot to around 10 feet to give himself a chance to salvage a bogey, only for his original ball to be found by a spectator.

That meant it was still in play and, after a long delay while it was determined where he could best take a drop, Lowry hit his approach just short of the green and eventually completed a double-bogey six.

Former Ryder Cup player David Howell, the on-course commentator with Lowry’s group for Sky Sports, said the spectator who found the ball was “being a little sheepish” when he realised Lowry’s intentions, adding: “He’s feeling awful.”

“I hit a great provisional,” Lowry explained. “The referee asked me going down (the fairway) did I want to find my first one, and I said no. So I assumed that was OK.

“Then we get down there and somebody had found it, so apparently you have to go and identify it. I felt through that whole process of that 20 minutes of seeing where I could drop I was very calm and composed and really knew that I was doing the right thing.

“And Darren (Reynolds, his caddie) did a great job too. He kept telling me we have loads of time, we don’t need to rush this.

“To be honest, I was happy enough leaving there with a six. It wasn’t a disaster. I have felt quite calm and composed the last couple of days. I’ve felt really in my comfort zone.

“Sometimes you are in a frame of mind where you get on with it better than other times. This week in my head feels like that, where I think I’m ready to take what comes, take what’s given to me out there.

“Anything that’s thrown at me, I feel like I’m ready to take it on the chin and move on. If I give myself a chance on Sunday I know I can do it and that’s as good as a position to be in as any.”

After recording a two-putt birdie at the par-five 16th, Lowry struck a well-weighted approach at the last to 20 feet left of the cup before soaking up a warm ovation as he walked towards the green.

Cries of “Nice job, Shane” rang out before he coolly sank the putt.

“I have felt quite calm and composed the last couple of days,” Lowry said. “I’ve felt really in my comfort zone.”

It was an Open to forget for Rory McIlroy, however, who missed his first cut at the event since Royal Portrush in 2019.

After an opening 78, McIlroy needed to post an under-par score to survive the cut but his chances essentially fizzled during a disastrous four-hole stretch on the front nine, with a nightmarish triple bogey on the par-5 fourth along with bogeys on 3, 5 and 6 leaving him at +13 and doomed to a Friday finish.

While he steadied things with no dropped strokes over the remainder of the round, with late birdies on 14 and 16, the former holed out from the greenside bunker, he finished at 11-over par and well outside the cut mark.

Elsewhere, there was better news for two veteran former champions, Padraig Harrington and Darren Clarke, both of whom will tee off this weekend.

Harrington, after a display of fine ball-striking, posted a second round 73 left him on three-over par, three strokes inside the cut-line.

2011 champion Clarke will join him, the Dungannon man carding a fine 71 on Friday to remain at six-over par, a mark which, for much of the day was outside the initially projected cut line.

However, as players continued to struggle in the wind, the cut-line shifted back to six-over, and Clarke will be on course early on Saturday.

Galway amateur Liam Nolan, who qualified at Dundonald earlier this month, finished at 13-over par, with rounds of 78 and 77.

World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler feels he has momentum after a second successive 70, which leaves him in the group in tied-fourth, five strokes adrift of Lowry.

The Masters champion is well placed on the leaderboard on two under par at the halfway stage but the gloss was taken off a solid performance on Friday with a bogey at the last.

Scheffler, who carded three birdies and one other bogey, felt he was in particularly good touch on the greens.

The American said: “I feel like I holed a good amount of putts today, and I hit a lot of good ones, some up around the cup.

“Being able to hole a few, especially some important ones on the back nine for par, those always feel good, keeping the momentum.

“Sometimes it’s a numbers game – just keep getting the ball up around the hole, and the more I can get it closer to the hole more often, the more putts I’m going to hole.

“I would have liked to be leading but I’ve played two solid rounds. I’ll continue to try to execute and just continue to try to hit good shots and good putts out there.”

Meanwhile, Tiger Woods will miss the cut after following his opening 79 with a six-over-par 77.

At 14 over, Woods stood 150th of 154 golfers as the second round was in progress.

“I’ve always loved playing major championships. I just wish I was more physically sharp coming into the majors,” Woods said after his round.

“Obviously it tests you mentally, physically, emotionally, and I just wasn’t as sharp as I needed to be.”

The round concluded a disappointing season for the 48-year-old (above). He made his first start of the season in February at the Genesis Invitational, his foundation’s tournament, but had to withdraw early in his second round due to illness.

Woods made the cut at the Masters – for a record-breaking 24th straight start – but finished last among the 60 golfers who played the weekend.

“I’d like to have played more, but I just wanted to make sure that I was able to play the major championships this year,” Woods said.

“I got a lot of time off to get better, to be better physically, which has been the case all year.

“I’ve gotten better, even though my results really haven’t shown it, but physically I’ve gotten better, which is great. I just need to keep progressing like that and then eventually start playing more competitively and start getting into kind of the competitive flow again.”

Asked if he would compete at next year’s Open at Royal Portrush, Woods said: “Definitely.”