July 18, 2024; Ayrshire, SCT; Shane Lowry reacts on the 14th green during the first round of The Open Championship golf tournament at Royal Troon. Mandatory Credit: Jack Gruber-USA TODAY Sports Ireland’s Shane Lowry survived a mishap on No. 11 and birdied two of his last three holes to enter the clubhouse with the lead midway through the second round of the 152nd Open Championship at Royal Troon on Friday.
Lowry’s two-putt birdie on the par-5 16th hole and his 20-and-a-half-foot putt on the 18th gave him a 2-under-par 69, putting the 2019 Open champion at 7-under 135 heading into the weekend in Troon, South Ayrshire, Scotland.
He is two shots ahead of 18-hole leader Daniel Brown of England, who posted a 1-over-par 72 to drop to 5 under par.
“I know (Saturday) is going to be a long day, but I’ve done it before,” Lowry said. “Coming in at the top of the tournament, who knows if I’ll be in the lead at the end of the day? With these conditions, I probably will be, but we’ll have to wait and see.”
On the par-4 11th hole, Lowry’s second shot got lost in the rough and he hit a provisional ball onto the green. Then his original ball was found and, in accordance with the rules, he had to play it. It took 20 minutes between shots for Lowry to decide to take a penalty stroke and give it up. He hit a blind shot over some bushes onto the green and made double bogey to get back to 5 under par.
“The ref asked me on the way down if I wanted to find my first item, and I said no. So I assumed that was OK,” Lowry said. “Then we went down there and somebody had found it. So apparently we have to find it at that point, or go identify it, which I thought, if you report it lost before it’s found, which it wasn’t, you didn’t have to go identify it.
“…To be honest, I was happy to leave with a 6. It wasn’t like I was a disaster. I was still leading the tournament.”
England’s Justin Rose was in third place at 3 under par after 12 holes of his second round. He made his first bogey of the tournament on the 12th hole.
World No. 1 Scheffler shot a 70 to join Billy Horschel (68) and South African Dean Burmester (69) in a tie at -2. Scheffler holed a 35-foot birdie putt on the par-3 14th and added a birdie on the 16th to reach -3, but he hit a bunker off the 18th and finished with a bogey.
The standings, at 1 under par after two rounds, include Xander Schauffele (72), Patrick Cantlay (68), Australian Jason Day (68) and Canadian Corey Conners (70).
Notable players who tee off in the afternoon heat included Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy, Spain’s Jon Rahm and US Open winner Bryson DeChambeau. Justin Thomas started the day in third place at 3-under par but shot a disastrous 45 over his first nine holes, capped by a triple bogey on the ninth hole that put him out of contention.
Tiger Woods followed an opening 79 with a 6-over 77 on Friday to finish the two rounds at 14 over, missing the cut at his third consecutive major.
–Field level media
