LEADERBOARD SPECIFICS:
Lowry at -7 (1)
Brown and Rose both at -4 (1)
Lawrence (15), Henley (10), Schauffele (3), Scheffler (3) are all at -3
Scheffler made a birdie putt on the third, bringing him just one behind second place. Lowry took an iron off the second, landing it straight down the fairway, while Brown’s shot has landed in the rough, also with an iron.
Lowry narrowly missed a long birdie putt at the first, filling the gap by four feet. Brown’s chips it past the hole and to the left for par which he fails to make. Thus, Lowry is now three ahead having made the par putt.
Rose had a superior shot onto the green at the second, achieving the middle of the green but leaving a short putt. Scheffler has come prepared with full grey rain gear, as the rain lashes down. He gets the spin at the third, thereby setting up a birdie chance to go to -3.
Lowry’s solid shot from pot bunker with a wedge successfully hits the middle of the green. His playing partner, Brown proves less fortunate as his ball ended up just over the bunker causing a difficult stance. This results in him overshotting the green at the first.
Justin Rose unfortunately makes a bogey at the first after an unsuccessful approach and failing to recover from the bunker.
Scheffler makes par at the first hole and positions in the middle of the green for the second. Meanwhile, PGA Champion Schauffele advances and birdies the third, following the second, to go three under.
Amidst big applause, the announcer introduces Ireland’s Shane Lowry at the tee, who disappoints with a poor opening tee shot, pulling his iron into a bunker.
Rory McIlroy, who sadly did not make the cut yesterday, will be rooting for Shane Lowry. Pádraig Harrington is faring well today, at -2 for the day and +1 for the tournament, tied 20th after 10 holes. Tom McKibbin is at +10 and Darren Clarke at +11.
Shane Lowry approaches the tee, receiving final words of encouragement from coach Neil Manchip.
Greetings and thanks for joining today’s live commentary on the second day of the Open Championship from Royal Troon. Shane Lowry finished two shots ahead on the leaderboard after carding a stunning 66 and 69 in the previous two rounds. While the weather was in his favour, it’s clear that his ball striking has been impeccable, giving us a sense of nostalgia from when he masterfully navigated his way through challenging weather conditions in Portrush in 2019.
Today’s weather conditions are relatively calm compared to yesterday, and some golfers who started early have capitalised on this. Yet, Lowry is still maintaining his excellent form and seems to have a firm grip on the championship. Daniel Brown is pairing him, a golfer who has shocked every pundit with his performance so far, given his lack of form coming into this. Experienced Justin Rose is also in the mix, a player well-versed with links golf. World number one Scottie Scheffler, who boasts six wins this year, including a Masters, is also in contention.
Lowry is scheduled to tee off at 3.45pm.
Here are the scores on the leaderboard:
Lowry holds the lead at -7, followed by joint second place Daniel Brown and Justin Rose at -5. Thriston Lawrence is at -3. Scottie Scheffler, Dean Burmester, Russell Henley and Xander Schauffele are at -2, with Billy Horschel also on the same score.