Lowry leads from Rose and Brown at Royal Troon Open

Round two leaderboard

-7 Lowry (Ire); -5 Brown (Eng), Rose (Eng); -2 Horschel (US), Burmester (SA), Scheffler (US)

Selected: -1 Schauffele (US), Cantlay (US); Level Jordan (Eng); +1 D Johnson (US), Koepka (US), Rahm (Spa); +3 McKibbin (NI); +5 MacIntyre (Sco); +6 Fitzpatrick

Missed cut: +9 DeChambeau (US) +11 McIlroy (NI); +14 Woods (US)

Full leaderboard

Ireland's Shane Lowry leads The Open by two at the halfway stage after a blustery second round at Royal Troon that blew Rory McIlroy out of the tournament.

Lowry, the 2019 champion, rolled in a 20-footer for birdie on the last as he followed his opening 66 with a two-under 69 to improve to seven under.

"To shoot in the 60s is very good any day on this course, even when the conditions aren't this bad. I'm very happy," he told BBC Sport NI, referring to the 30mph winds that were buffeting the links during his round.

No Englishman has won the Claret Jug since Sir Nick Faldo in 1992 but two are leading the chasing pack on five under.

Former US Open and Olympic champion Justin Rose holed a 40-foot birdie putt on the 18th to join Dan Brown, the world number 272 who was the surprise round one leader on six under and backed that up with a 72.

"That was a hard round of golf, a great round of golf," Rose told BBC Sport.

When he teed off at 12:42 BST the 366-yard first hole was playing around 100 yards longer because of the strength of the wind and despite playing through the worst of the conditions, had only one bogey in a phenomenal 68.

"It was the type of day where the course was relentless. There was no let-up and it was nice to finish with a smile on my face," said the 43-year-old, who still "dreams" of winning an Open title 26 years after finishing fourth as a 17-year-old amateur at Royal Birkdale.

'That was carnage'

World number one Scottie Scheffler is three further back. The American, who has already won six times this year, including the Masters in April, hit a 70 to join compatriot Billy Horschel (68) and South African Dean Burmester (69) on two under.

Australia's Jason Day had a bogey-free 68 and sits alongside Canada's Corey Conners (70) on one under.

Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele are also on that mark although Cantlay's 68 was four shots better than his good friend could manage to leave only 10 players under par.

The halfway cut mark, which sees the top 70 players and ties play the final two rounds, came at six over par.

Scotland's Robert MacIntyre is in on five over, while Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy is heading home on 11 over.

Both posted 75s on Friday. MacIntyre fought back with four birdies after dropping a scarcely believable eight shots in his opening four holes.

"That was carnage," said the newly crowned Scottish Open champion. "When I made that eight on four, my head was completely gone. I didn't think I was going to make the weekend, it was just about fighting and the fans helped me a long way."

Like MacIntyre, McIlroy had a triple-bogey eight at the fourth and he was 13 over after the sixth as he failed to cope with the wind. Two late birdies in calmer conditions brought a rueful smile but his chase for a fifth major now extends beyond a decade.

"I didn't adapt well and the wind got the better of me," he simply said.

I will be at Portrush Open - Woods

Tiger Woods once again drew the biggest following of the morning starters and was afforded a huge ovation on the 18th as he closed with a six-over 77 that left him at 14 over.

There has been much speculation regarding the three-time Open champion's future, given his lack of competitiveness after missing the cut at the past three majors and finishing last at the Masters, as he continues to recover from injuries sustained in a 2021 car crash.

However, when asked if he would be at Portrush for next year's Championship, the 48-year-old replied: "Definitely.

"I just wanted to make sure that I was able to play the major championships this year.

"I've got better, even though my results really haven't shown it, but physically I've got better.

"I just need to keep progressing and getting into the competitive flow again."

Lowry keeps head after Railway trouble

Lowry birdied the first, fourth and eighth holes in relatively benign conditions as he reached seven under at the turn. But all his patient work threatened to unravel on the feared Railway.

The par-four 11th has been the toughest hole at the past three Troon Opens and Lowry found trouble off the tee with a slightly wayward drive into rough. From there he hit what former Solheim Cup captain Catriona Matthew called an "inexplicable hook" straight across the fairway and deep into a gorse bush.

He eventually stalked off the green with a double-bogey six and back where he started the day.

However, he steadied himself with four straight pars before closing with birdies on the 16th and 18th holes.

"I faced a little bit of adversity in the middle of the round and I'm happy with how I dealt with it," he told BBC Sport NI. "I moved on and hit some great shots coming in.

"I've got 24 hours until my tee time [on Saturday]. "I'm going to go home, chill out and soak it all in and then give it my best."

'I feel at home with links golf'

Brown continues to be the surprise package of this 152nd Open Championship.

The 29-year-old from North Yorkshire, playing in his first Open, dropped two shots in his opening nine holes but refused to fade away, with birdies on the 10th and 16th bringing him back to six under before a third bogey of the day on 17.

"It was always going to be tricky to back up what I did [on Thursday]," Brown told BBC Sport.

"The conditions didn’t really allow that so it was just very much managing your expectations. It did feel more of a grind."

He is a former English amateur champion and won his first Tour event last year in Northern Ireland. Finishing 61st at last week's Scottish Open ended a run of seven missed cuts and a withdrawal in his previous eight tournaments.

"A lot of people probably didn’t know who I was coming into this week, but I feel good and at home with links golf," said Brown, who holed a 20-foot putt at West Lancashire on 2 July to claim the last of four qualifying spots from that event.

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