Shane Lowry creeps closer to another Claret Jug as his rivals fall flat on their faces amidst challenging conditions at the Open

As Rory McIlroy was being cut and chopped through the gorse bushes of Troon, another son of Ireland walked to a bench to put his feet up.

For a man who doesn’t really consider himself a runner, Shane Lowry is moving at a blistering pace here at the Open Championship. Where others at a higher level have fallen face first, he keeps closing in on a jug he knows pretty well.

With a whole weekend to navigate, anything can happen between now and Sunday night. In this weather, on this stretch of land, there are countless places where Lowry can lose a ball or his mind, and his journey to the 11th hole in the second round is all the proof he needs. We’ll get back to that corner of horror in a moment.

But for now, barring a few mishaps, the 2019 champion has been masterful in handling such a tough test. Before his 66 on Thursday, good for second place behind Daniel Brown’s great story, read the 69 strokes he covered in 35mph gusts to head into Friday’s locker room with a two-stroke lead.

It was truly brilliant, the work of a man suited to this very peculiar canvas and equipped to thrive in the recent storms that battered the Ayrshire coast. McIlroy, Bryson DeChambeau, Tommy Fleetwood, Viktor Hovland, Cameron Smith, Ludvig Aberg and Tiger Woods are among the elite names who missed the cut of six-over-par, but Lowry had the time of his life.

With stormy weather hampering his rivals, he took pole position at the Royal Troon

“The fact that we are leading this tournament after two days is the reason we are here,” he said as the wind picked up outside the media tent.

“I’m going to sit back and watch a little bit of golf in the afternoon and see where I’m at. The job is to put myself in a position to win this tournament on Sunday, and that’s what I’m going to try to do.”

If anything disturbed his sleep on Friday night, it was the dangerous company of those below him on the big yellow scoreboards. Five strokes behind, at two under par, world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler sits after a second straight 70. He has yet to find his best, but his presence alone will be deeply unsettling.

Closer to home is Justin Rose, who was five under par after a monster 41-foot putt on the last and in the midst of a fantastic mission. He first came to our attention as a 17-year-old amateur in this tournament, and at 43 he has acquired enough links secrets to make up for what age has cost him.

He only qualified into the field a few weeks ago, but he is a real threat. His 68, with two birdies in his last three holes, was indeed better than Lowry’s round and more impressive for starting later on a day that was getting grimmer by the hour.

With just one bogey in his two rounds, Rose is a study in clutch putting, and yet he doesn’t quite catch the eye like the man next to him in joint second – Daniel Brown. If his first-round 65 was a shock, given his world ranking of 272 and a bench of experience from zero previous majors, his 72 was testament to his resilience. The 29-year-old was expected to fade and he stays there. Brilliant.

Lowry overcame a double bogey on the 11th to keep his dream of repeating his 2019 success (pictured above) alive

The difficulty of staying still should not be underestimated, as this weather decimated the score. While 17 players were under par at the end of the first round, that number had dropped to 10 by the end of the round.

There’s no doubt Lowry had it a little easier, but he excelled. There was a 9-foot birdie on the first, an 82-yard wedge to a foot in front of another on the par-five fourth and a slight slip through a greenside bunker when he bogeyed the fifth. He reclaimed that shot with an 11-footer on eight, but the strength of his game was the approach play. He kept those irons under tight control and pierced the front nine into the wind with a sly low flight.

Lowry’s debacle – for nearly everyone has had one – came on the 11th. He flirted with the right-hand track after slicing off the tee, but after finding his ball he botched his second. A cameraman distracted him on the backswing and his wrenched iron flew across the fairway and buried itself deep in a gorse bush.

Drama ensued. After playing a provisional to the green to give himself a reasonable chance of escaping with a bogey five, he was then told that his original ball had been found. Lowry could be heard expressing some frustration, which meant he had to take his chances with a drop through the bush. After a 20-minute delay, he left with a double bogey.

“I was happy enough to leave there with a six, to be honest,” he said. “It wasn’t a disaster – I was still leading the tournament.”

Meanwhile, Justin Rose gave chase with a strong performance to equal his compatriot Daniel Brown in second place.

A birdie on 16 and a final fifth of the day, from 20 feet, kept him there. From a parochial perspective, it was heartening to watch Rose give chase after holding his nerve on several six-foot putts. Together with Brown, they lead the challenge to stop a clock that has been ticking for 22 years since this tournament had an English winner.

“When I won the US Open in 2013, it was our first since Tony Jacklin (1970), so those are nice moments,” Rose said. “But you never think about it – we’re quite selfish in that regard. This was a nice day.”

The same goes for Brown, the revelation of the tournament so far. “Hopefully I can hang on Sunday,” he said. Bigger names have already been blown away in that quest.