Lowry and Brown lead British Open

TROON, Scotland : Ireland's Shane Lowry joined England's Dan Brown at the top of the British Open second-round leaderboard at a sunny Royal Troon on Friday.

Lowry, the 2019 Open champion, was one shot behind world number 272 Brown overnight but took advantage of calmer conditions to pick up two early birdies and move to seven under par through four holes.

A bogey at the fifth dropped Lowry back to six under, however, level with the 29-year-old Brown who started his second round with a solid par.

American Justin Thomas will tee off on three under par, one shot ahead of Swede Alex Noren, England's Justin Rose and Joe Dean, American Russell Henley, Denmark's Nicolai Hojgaard and Canadian Mackenzie Hughes.

Canadian Corey Conners moved to one under par, level with world number one Scottie Scheffler and fellow American Xander Schauffele.

Former world number one Tiger Woods continued to struggle.

The 48-year-old American recorded six bogeys and two double bogeys in an opening 79 and dropped two more shots on Friday to slip to 10 over par and in serious danger of missing the cut.

U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau (76) and world number two Rory McIlroy (78) will also need big improvements if they are to play over the weekend with stronger winds forecast later in the day.