Shane Lowry keeps cool to take clubhouse lead at the Open

Shane Lowry is the clubhouse leader at the Open after a hard-fought and eventful second round at Royal Troon.

The Offaly man shot a 69 at the Scottish venue, following up on yesterday's 66.

With the second round still in progress, Lowry is clear of England’s Daniel Brown, while Justin Rose and Scottie Scheffler are also in the top five.

A birdie from 20 feet on the 18th rounded off a superb day’s work for Lowry, a second round of 69 setting a halfway target of seven under par that looked nigh-on impossible to catch.

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Elsewhere, Padraig Harrington looks set to make the projected cut of five over and better after a second-round 73 left him on three over, while Darren Clarke finished on six over.

Rory McIlroy was among the late starters looking to recover from yesterday's 78.

Meanwhile, Tiger Woods will miss the cut after following his opening 79 with a 6-over-par 77.

At 14 over par, Woods stood 150th of 154 golfers as the second round was in progress.

"I've always loved playing major championships. I just wish I was more physically sharp coming into the majors," Woods said after his round.

"Obviously it tests you mentally, physically, emotionally, and I just wasn't as sharp as I needed to be."

The round concluded a disappointing season for the 48-year-old (above). He made his first start of the season in February at the Genesis Invitational, his foundation's tournament, but had to withdraw early in his second round due to illness.

Woods made the cut at the Masters - for a record-breaking 24th straight start - but finished last among the 60 golfers who played the weekend.

"I'd like to have played more, but I just wanted to make sure that I was able to play the major championships this year," Woods said.

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