Justin Thomas missed the green at 1 but was able to get up and down to scramble his par. He’s not able to pull off the same trick when finding himself short-sided at 2. The two-time PGA champion drops to -2.

Scottie Scheffler’s ball has stopped short of the gorse bush at 12, but even on tippy toes the gentle giant can’t see the green from where he finds himself. He whips blind over the bush, and though he finds the fairway, he’s well short of the green with work to do to save his par.

The 2017 champion Jordan Spieth had, like his playing partner Scottie Scheffler, kept himself in position despite not clicking into gear. But he’s just followed up bogey at 10 with double at 11, the latter the cost of sending his tee shot out of bounds. All of a sudden he’s +3. But heading the other way, it’s the erstwhile Masters and US Open champ Dustin Johnson, who has had some downtime in the majors since joining the LIV tour, but is getting back on song here. An eagle rake across 16 brings him up to +1. DJ should really have won this tournament at Sandwich in 2011, only to hoick his ball out of bounds from the centre of the 14th fairway; Darren Clarke sends his thanks. Could the big man right some wrongs this year?

Scottie Scheffler is this close to draining a monster from the front fringe at 11. He taps in for par, looking slightly irritated. It’s not quite happened for the world number one so far this week … but he’s hung on in there despite not bringing his best stuff. Yet. It might be nothing more than a matter of time. He’s -1. And so having said that, he’s just sent his tee shot at 12 towards a very ugly bush. More on that anon.

You’ll have noticed Jason Day back in the clubhouse at -1. He signed for a blemish-free 68, no mean feat even if he’s enjoyed the more benign early conditions. A fair chance he won’t be miles away from the 36-hole lead with the wind now picking up and causing some bother.

Thanks Matt … and oh Shane! Lowry will be cursing the well-meaning punter who found his original ball in the gorse bush. But having called a provisional – as opposed to declaring his ball lost – he’s duty bound to play on with the found ball. After an elongated faff, he drops back in line, and wedges blind towards the green. Sure enough it’s nowhere near the point he sent his provisional, so is now taking a Texas Wedge from 35 feet. He’ll do well to make double from here. Which he does. Full marks by the way for the deep-throated growl of EFF he emitted upon carving that second shot into the bush. But that’s mixed things up at the top.

-5: Lowry (11), Brown (7)
-3: Thomas
-2: Horschel (F), Burmester (16), Noren (5), N Hojgaard (2), Rose (1), Henley
-1: Conners (F), Day (F), Schauffele (13), Cantlay (13), Scheffler (10), Wallace, Kirk

The Shane Lowry drama at 11 continues as I had back to Scott Murray! I’ll catch you all later.

-7: Lowry (10)
-5: Brown (6)
-3: Thomas
-2: Horschel (F), Cantlay (12), Noren (4), N Hojgaard (1), Rose, Henley

Niall O’Keefe emails: “Would be curious to hear your thoughts on why Tiger Woods still gets so much coverage. Big name I know but he is consistently way behind the pack. To draw an analogy, imagine if Federer was still playing tennis. And getting knocked out every time in the first round of Wimbledon etc. I doubt the media would be following him avidly. Nothing personal against him but baffled that anyone wants to know his latest mediocre score. Great at his peak. But aren’t all sportspeople? Go on Shane!” I’m with your personally Niall, but Tiger had the biggest galleries and created the biggest buzz out on the course yesterday. That’s echoed in TV viewing figures and clicks.

A twist to the Lowry story! The gorse bush is so tall it towers over the fans who make up the gallery but there is a path through the middle of it and, amid the general chaos there, it appears there might be his ball. He’s grimacing and also pulling at his shoulder. TV pictures indicate that the ball has been found and is in deep trouble. So he will take a penalty drop and head backwards keeping the pin and bush in a straight line. The second ball won’t count. High drama as he stares in the general direction of the green from the 12th fairway!

Back in 2016, Shane Lowry said of this course: “If you play 10, 11, and 12 okay, I think that’s kind of going to be the key for the week.” Guess what? He’s found the rough from the tee at 11, yanked his approach into a gorse bush as big as a small village, looked skyward, took a few seconds, and then hit his 4th blow to the middle of the green. If he holes from 17 feet for bogey it will huge. The tricky stretch is testing him just as he foretold.

The presence of Alex Noren high up the leaderboard is a reminder that his compatriot Henrik Stenson won at Royal Troon in 2016. But Swedish roots run deeper at this venue. Jesper Parnevik really should have won in 1997 and it’s little-known that the man Stenson beat – Phil Mickelson – has Swedish heritage. Noren was famous as a young player for getting slightly obsessive with hobbies – blogging, photography, weightlifting, his swing. But parenthood has made him a little more laid back.

Lowry misses the birdie opportunity at 10. But he’s still two clear of Brown and four clear of the rest.

-7: Lowry (10)
-5: Brown (4)
-3: Noren (3), Thomas
-2: Horschel (F), Schauffele (11), Cantlay (11), N Hojgaard, Rose, Henley

Another tremendously typical Open scene. Shane Lowry finds the gallery walkway with his drive at 10 and TV cameras show his ball sitting wonderfully on the trampled-down grass. Behind him a bank of fans watch closely and, as he sweeps the ball to its target, the mass of their heads twists to follow its path. It’s a brilliant short iron, pitching near the hole, hopping a couple of times, and then spinning back to 5 feet.

Billy Horschel completes a second round of 68. It means the American set the early 36-hole clubhouse target at -2 and he might be in line for a second major championship top 10 of 2024 after finishing 8th in the PGA Championship. Ludicrously, for an 8-time PGA Tour winner, that was his first major top 10 since 2013. His Open best was 21st in 2022 at St Andrews. Corey Conners has completed a 70 to reach halfway in -1.

Mr Consistency, aka Alex Noren, ticks a birdie at 2 to become the first man today to break the -2 barrier for all but the top three. He joins Justin Thomas on -3 for the championship. He has 12 top 30 finishes in 17 starts in 2024. He’s also got six top 30s in his 11 Open starts - and four of them in his last five. He’s even got 11 top 30s in his last 17 starts in Scotland.

Classic Open scenes for Dan Brown at 4. His second shot finds tangly rough and prompts the fans in the galleries to run around trying to bagsy close-up views of his recovery. The marshals in their fancy outfits and rucksacks (much coveted by American tourists) try to maintain some sense of order. The famous yellow signposts pepper the walkways. Brown paces around looking for a good option, then thrashes the ball back onto short grass. He’s in trouble though. He’s set to drop a shot.

The Postage Stamp is being kind to Shane Lowry. A birdie at the par-3 8th yesterday (I was actually high on the hill behind 7 watching him drain it) and another today from 10 feet. He’s back to -7 for the tournament and he’s the solo leader.

-7: Lowry (8)
-6: Brown (3)
-3: Thomas
-2: Horschel (16), Burmester (12), Schauffele (8), Hughes (5), Noren, N Hojgaard, Rose, Henley

Michael Hendry walks to the first tee. The Kiwi was in hospital this time last year with leukaemia and yesterday dropped a few shots early on as the emotion of his return got to him. However a bold fight back means he starts today +3 and has a genuine shot at playing the weekend. His tale has echoes of a book written by the comedian Dominic Holland (also the father of Spiderman actor Tom Holland) to raise funds for the Anthony Nolan leukaemia charity. It’s called Open Links and is the story of a journeyman golfer’s extraordinary Open Championship. Hendry knows all about that kind of thing.

Dan Brown drains a 20 foot par putt to remain in a share of the lead. He revealed last night that it was so dark late in his first round that he had his caddie and brother Ben reading his putts with AimPoint (in which you use your feet to gauge slopes). No blind putting this morning.

Simon Thomas emails: “Cam Smith looks to have some serious problems – he just missed the 6^th green by miles with a short iron. What’s his LIV form like or does he just no longer care and is living his best life?” Well, Smith has actually finished 9th and 6th in his last two LIV starts, and he was 6th in the Masters. But he’s been very volatile this year. He also carded a final round 80 in LIV Houston. He opened this week with another 80 and is +3 through 6 today. He said after round one: “A bad day and some bad breaks.”

Patrick Cantlay makes birdie at the Postage Stamp to get to -1 for the week. Earlier this morning Scott posted YouTube footage of Gene Sarazen’s famous hole-in-one there in 1972. It’s worth watching to contrast the backdrop then and now because it is truly mind-boggling. Then, there was not a lot of anything anywhere. Now, there is a significant grandstand and the sandhills are thronged with fans clinging to the top like tourists waiting their turn to reach the summit of Mount Everest.

Robert Jones emails: “Tiger Woods may not be scoring well, but neither are a lot of other well-known names. Tiger looks to be in the best physical condition I have seen him since the car accident. He does not appear to be finding difficulty or pain with walking the course that was so obvious in previous tournaments.” Interesting, Robert. The warmer temperatures of today will be helping his various aches and pains.

Shane Lowry has pulled on a white windcheater (lovely word, that) and the flag at 6 is flapping more than they have been all morning. His third shot at this par-5 finishes just 10 feet from the hole, however. A good chance to bounce back from his first bogey of the week.

Contrasting mornings for good friends Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay. The former is +2 through 6 and the latter -2 through 6. They are both even for the championship but will be in very different headspace at the moment. Schauffele was entertaining and laid back in his pre-tournament press conference. Asked if winning a major changed his pre-tournament thinking he said: “You guys can’t ask me that question anymore about how I’ve never won one. So ...” The relaxed and happy grin that came with this was rather lovely.

Alan James emails regarding my first post this morning at 10am: “I went to the Open at Lytham in 1979 and St Andrews in 1970, and traffic problems were already horrendous back then, so there has been every reason and opportunity to adapt travel patterns over those 55 years, so why are we stuck in the same old rut?” Alan adds that Troon is well served by trains and the good news is that 30,000 fans used Scotrail yesterday. My Open commute has gone from the sublime to the ridiculous. Last year it was a 10 minute stroll through Hoylake.

A first error for Shane Lowry this week. Well, a first bogey. His approach at 5 finds sand and then demonstrates the difficulty of Troon’s sand traps because he can’t get up-and-down for par. I was speaking with a Japanese journalist on Tuesday who said her nation’s players were agog at the deepness of the pot bunkers. Lowry is back to -6 and World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler joins the -2 peloton with a birdie at 4.

First round leader Dan Brown and his lush blond beard is on the first tee. At first glance, he was in terrible form ahead of this week with six missed cuts in his last seven starts. But his links form this season has been sensational: third on a Louis Oosthuizen-designed links track in Mauritius, fourth (when the halfway leader) at St Francis Links in South Africa, he drained a final green putt to progress from Final Qualifying and then shot a 65 in round one of last week’s Scottish Open. Can he maintain the pace today? He said last night that he had been nervous on the first tee yesterday and surely is again right now.

Matthew Jordan is riding the wave after landing a top 10 at Royal Liverpool last year. Back-to-back birdies at 6 and 7 for the Englishman gets him to -2 for the round and week.

-7: Lowry (4)
-6: Brown
-3: Thomas
-2: Burmester (9), Jordan (7), Hughes (2), Dean (1), Noren, N Hojgaard, Rose, Henley

A wonderful approach at 4, the first par-5, sets up a tap-in birdie for Shane Lowry. He walks to the green with putter tucked under his armpit, removing his glove, frowning slightly. Nothing to frown about though. This has been a wonderful start to his second round. There’s a long way to go but he could put the field under enormous pressure today. Troon is difficult enough without feeling the need to chase birdies. He’s -2 for today, -7 for the week and the solo leader.

England’s Joe Dean starts his second round with a par. The Yorkshireman is one of the success stories of the 2024 DP World Tour season. He won a card at Q School, spent Christmas driving a delivery van, and has since then finished second in Kenya and lost a play-off in the Netherlands. He made the cut in the 2017 Open but after a 69 yesterday he can book himself late tee times this weekend.

2011 Open champion Darren Clarke is making a move, albeit way back in the pack. He’s playing with Burmester and is -3 for the day and +3 for the week. He’s looking to make the weekend for the first time since 2016.

Special delivery for Dean Burmester. He holes from eight feet for birdie at the Postage Stamp (the par-3 8th) and is now -2 for the day and the week. He’s a three-time winner this season and a genuine threat now.

Dean Burmester is bouncing back again. Earlier today Scott highlighted the impressive recovery of the South African in round one and then noted that he started round two with a bogey. But a second par breaker of the day at 7 has him in red numbers (-1) for the first time in the round and the championship. He admitted yesterday that it took him a while to understand links golf but he’s looking for a fifth consecutive top 12 finish by the British and Irish seaside this week.

Canada’s Corey Conners, an alliterative delight,is making a move today. A fourth birdie of the day at 13 get him to -2 for the round and also the championship. He was 15th in the Open in 2021 but fourth heading into the final round so he has some links form. He’s as neat and tidy from tee to green as he is in person. Very much a golfer who looks like his apparel has just been pulled from the packet. His putting is rarely a strength but that’s often not a big problem at Troon where ball striking is most important.

Simon McMahon emails: “Penny for Tiger’s, or indeed Colin Montgomerie’s, thoughts after the three-time Open champion dropped to +10 after doubling the second. Maybe he’ll recommend that Tiger joins him at Carnoustie next week for the Senior Open? If nothing else, it’d be quite the pairing. 15 Majors between them and all that.” Monty, of course, got himself in bother this week by repeating his thoughts that Tiger should quit. Tiger wasn’t impressed but has done little to change Monty’s mind. Maybe Simon’s on to something? The next line-up for a made-for-TV match anyone?