Henrik Stenson has a real puzzle here. He's tried two feet out of the sand. No. Right foot in, left foot out? Yes. But he can't go for the pin and hacks out sideways. A 30-footer for par coming up.

Phil Mickelson is doing his best to ignore all this, checking out his own putt but he can't help but cast a look at Stenson's plight.

The Swede's ball is on its way but drifting right of the cup. Should be a bogey but Mickelson, from the front edge has 20 feet for a two-shot swing.

His ball takes a look but stays left. Par for Phil. Bogey for Henrik. A second in three holes.

Temper, temper.

Rory McIlroy has just destroyed his three-wood after being unhappy with his second shot on the 16th.

The former world number one, standing on the fairway, is not too pleased with his effort and hurls the club on to the ground, with the head of the three-wood bouncing off.

The par-three Postage Stamp is only 100 yards long today but it is averaging 3.2 shots. 

Phil Mickelson hits a high one that lands on the front edge and starts to spin back. There's a bunker at the front of the green that has gobbled up countless balls. But Lefty's clings on to the slope. 

Henrik Stenson settles over his ball. He's not happy about something though and steps away. A quick word with the caddie and he flicks his wedge up into the wind which is blowing straight at him. Not enough juice from the Swede. 

A horrible position in the bunker, ball in but his feet will most definitely be out.

Soren Kjeldsen and Keegan Bradley were both in the bunker on the eighth - the Postage Stamp - but both chipped out nicely with their second shots on the par three hole.

Bradley finished off a six footer to escape with a par, although Kjeldsen missed a putt from a bit further out and that is a bogey for the Danish player, who is now on seven under, one better than Bradley.

Phil Mickelson locates his ball and then takes a wander up to the green to check out the undulations. He's decided on a low runner but the ball comes out a little hot and scuttles up some 20 yards past the pin.

Henrik Stenson advances his ball to the front edge of the green and then hits a low chip and run stone dead for a par.

Lefty from the back of the green. Good pace leaves him a tap-in from a foot.

The Postage Stamp is causing some problems now.

Both Soren Kjeldsen and Keegan Bradley appear to be fine on the green with their tee shots, but then the balls slam on the breaks, hit reverse, drop down a curve and roll downhill straight into a bunker. 

Image source, PA

Phil Mickelson selects his driver for the par-four seventh. He's missing the fairway again though, into the cabbage close to the eighth green. At least he can get a good look at the pin position.

Henrik Stenson smashes one down the right side of the fairway and his ball is being pulled towards the only bunker in range. In she pops and he's got one of those 50-yard shots from the sand that we all love.

He was in with the fans on the 15th and that error leads to Rory McIlroy dropping a shot.

He chipped out of the rough nicely, but the damage had already been done with his previous shot. His eight-foot par putt drifts wide and that bogey takes him out of the top 20 and back to level par, but, crucially, 11 shots behind joint leaders Phil Mickelson and Henrik Stenson.

Henrik Stenson is again short with a putt. About six feet. 

Phil Mickelson a little more aggressive but he's not on target. A tap-in par to stay 11 under.

Stenson's putter is waving around behind the ball before he finally settles. He's pushed it. A costly bogey six for the Swede and we are tied again.

Amar Chotai: Stenson looking difficult to beat, he and Mickelson pulling clear, but this is far from over. Compelling stuff.

Rory McIlroy screams 'FORE', 'RIGHT' on the 15th and sends spectators running. He will soon be playing his next shot among them.

It has been a day to forget for the former world number one as any hopes of winning appear to have evaporated.

He bogeyed the first, before going bogey-birdie-bogey-birdie between the third and sixth. He has made par at all the holes from seventh to 14th but could be dropping further back here.

Ben Dirs
BBC Sport at Royal Troon

The wind and the rain appear to have shaken on a deal - the wind has taken a break and the rain has decided it fancies making itself felt for half an hour or so. 

It's a deal that will probably make scoring a little easier for the late starters.

Phil Mickelson's ball is hiding among the semi-flattened grass where the spectators once stood. He has a bunker and about 80 yards between him and the hole. He gives it a massive dig and that lands a yard over the sand. Incredible shot but he's not getting any spin on that and it scuttles through the back of the green.

Henrik Stenson is not taking the bunker on from a similarly miserable lie. He hits a low chaser up the right that drops just off the right edge. 

Both have taken three. Birdies looking distant prospects right now.

It was all going so well for Dustin Johnson, but he has fallen foul to the 11th, the hardest hole on the course.

A triple bogey for the world number two and he drops back to two-under.

Andrew Johnston is up on the ninth with  birdie putt. In that goes and a roar of "Beef" goes up round the green. A smile as wide as the Firth of Clyde spreads across his bearded face.

He is up to six under. Two birdies and no bogeys on his front nine. Can he hold on coming home?

Keegan Bradley is up and running with his first birdie of the day, at the sixth, after two earlier bogeys had slowed his progress. But that takes him back to six under and he is someone who could still have a big say in this tournament.

Fellow American Bill Haas is up to tied third. He is three under for the day and seven under overall. His latest triumph is a birdie at the eighth, chipping in at the Postage Stamp.

The sixth is called Turnberry and it's the longest on the course at 601 yards.

Phil Mickelson's tee shot ran out of fairway down the left and the ball is a little above his feet in the first cut. A wild swish and it's going further left. The TV cameras lose sight of the ball.

Henrik Stenson from a little further left and in the deeper rough. But he's got a decent lie and has a thrash with a two-iron. He ends up in an awful spot though, on a downslope, short of the green. His ball nestles down to hide from the elements.

Back on the fifth green and Phil Mickelson is online but short again. The American perhaps still figuring out the speed of the greens because they weren't cut overnight with the R&A worried about balls moving in the forecast high winds.

Henrik Stenson from much closer in and he too is short, about half a roll. Pars apiece and on to six.

Sergio Garcia on the eighth. First class on Postage Stamp. Flies the ball 15 feet over the pin and spins back to seven. And the Spaniard nails the putt to get to six under.