Shane Lowry -7 is 36 hole leader at The 152nd Open Championship
For a second consecutive day in a row play started at 6:35Am with Ewen Ferguson getting action underway. Lowry -5 began his second round at 9:47AM and got off to a perfect start with an opening birdie to reach -6. Offaly native was ranked first in strokes gained putting on Thursday and continued to impress on Royal Troon’s putting surfaces with achieving a birdie at four to reach -7. Lowry’s bogey free run on the west coast of Scotland eventually came to an end at five but followed it up with a sensational birdie at postage stamp eighth hole to turn in -2.
The 488 yard 11th hole at Royal Troon is an extremely difficult hole with out of bounds right and Lowry’s second shot went into bush after declaring a provisional his ball was found resulting in a double bogey. “I was doing the right thing, and I felt like Darren did a great job”, said Lowry. Playing conditions changed while Lowry was playing the back nine especially with wind getting stronger but Offaly native hit two extraordinary long-iron shots at 16 to return -6. 2019 Open Championship winner yet again finished superbly with a birdie at 18 to sign for an impressive -2 round of 68. “I'm pretty happy with the day. To be leading this tournament after two days, it's why you come here, it's why we're here”, said Lowry.
Daniel Brown won 2023 ISPS Handa World Invitational and started Friday with the lead on -6. Brown started the back nine -5 and signed for a excellent round of 72. It’s incredible that Brown is -5 considering he had to qualify for Royal Troon. Justin Rose another player that had to qualify for Royal Troon and incredibly went 29 holes without a bogey. 2023 Europe Ryder Cup participant held two amazing putts at 16 and 18 to post a sensational round of 68. With winds gusting 34 miles per hour this -2 round by Rose is a contender for best round of 2024. Englishmen Rose and Brown are Lowry’s nearest challengers on -5.
Scottie Scheffler -1 was a part of Friday’s morning coverage and achieved an up & down at four to reach -2. One of Scheffler’s many strengths is not playing himself out of contention and managed birdies at 14 and 16 to reach -3. Two-time major champion finished with a bogey but is looking strong on -2. Patrick Cantlay was a star at 2023 Ryder Cup and recently finished tied third at US Open. Cantlay -2 shot an excellent second round of 68 and looking to draw inspiration from his close friend Xander Schauffele who won the PGA Championship in May. Dean Burmester and Billy Horschel shot under par rounds to make it a four-way tie on -2.
10 players are under par including -1 Corey Conners, Jason Day, Xander Schauffele and the worst score for each hole at Royal Troon on Friday added up to a gross of 128 shots. Rory McIlroy +7 played in extremely difficult afternoon conditions and needed a good round to make the cut. McIlroy played himself out of the tournament especially with playing holes three and four in +4. The wind went out of McIlroy’s sails as a bogey at six resulted in disappointly reaching +13. McIlroy finished on +11 five shots outside of +6 cut and will have to wait until 2025 to end 11 year major drought. “The majors have come and gone, but to sort of refocus and try to reset for the Olympics”, said McIlroy. McIlroy wasn’t the only golfer to get swallowed up by wind as Ludvig Aberg, Wyndham Clark, Tommy Fleetwood, Viktor Hovland and Bryson DeChambeau all comfortably missed +6 halfway cut.