The Open 2016: day two – live!

Latest updates from the second day at Royal TroonOfficial Open leaderboard
Day two tee times at Royal TroonEmail scott.murray@theguardian.com with your thoughts

9.40am BST

A fifth birdie of the day for Charl Schwartzel. He rolls one across the 7th from 30 feet and suddenly he’s -4 and right in the mix. Lee Westwood has picked up his first birdie today on 4; he’s -1. Meanwhile Kevin Na started slowly - no jokes please - with bogeys at 1 and 4. But he’s bounced back with three birdies on the bounce, at 5, 6 and 7. He’s -2 overall.

9.37am BST

So Dustin, having missed a three footer for birdie on 1, knocks in a 20-footer on 2 to move to -1. That’s golf, right there. His playing partner Martin Kaymer was in all sorts of trouble from the get-go, finding rough from the tee, then dumping his ball in a bunker 60 yards shy of the green. Getting up and down from there was always a pipe dream. He’s back to -4.

9.30am BST

Andrew Johnston is being his usual entertaining self. Beef followed up his bogey at 1 with another at 2, but he’s turned his round through 180 degrees, carding birdies at 3, 4 and 5. He’s up to -3 for the tournament. Kjeldsen lands his second at 7 in the bunker to the left of the green, but splashes out to ten feet - the best he could do - and strokes in the par saver. But up on 4, Mickelson reaches the green in two, hits a not particularly good eagle effort to eight feet, but knocks in the birdie effort, and he’s extended his lead at -9.

9.19am BST

Mickelson isn’t too far away from steering in a huge right-to-left curler on 3 for his first birdie of the day. But he’ll have to settle for par. Smiley Matt Kuchar has made it three birdies in a row at 4; he’s -3. The defending champion Zach Johnson has teed off, and whistled his opening shot into the thick rough down the left. Better there than the bunker he nearly went into, at least. Up on the green, his namesake Dustin misses a tiddler for a momentum-gathering birdie. He walks off in a daze, still level par for the tournament. He looks as though the US Open / Bridgestone whirlwind has taken a lot out of him.

9.09am BST

The first serious shake-up of the leaderboard has taken place. Another birdie for Francesco Molinari, this time at 6, and he’s into a tie for fifth at -4. He’s very close with a long rake across 7, too. Meanwhile Soren Kjeldsen rolls one in from 40 feet on the par-five 6th, and he’s within two of Mickelson’s lead, in sole possession of second spot!

-8: Mickelson (2)
-6: Kjeldsen (6)
-5: Kaymer, Reed
-4: Molinari (7), Z Johnson, Bradley, Thomas, Stricker, Horschel

9.05am BST

It’s back-to-back birdies for Matt Kuchar, who makes another at 3. He’s -2. His playing partner, the 2010 US Open champion Graeme McDowell, is following him shot by shot. Mind you, his birdie putt at 3 would be halfway to Turnberry now had the hole not got in the way. G-Mac is +2 overall. Another bogey for Tony Finau, who misses a short putt at 9 and reaches the turn in 38; he’s back down at -2. He should have done better. But Charl Schwartzel is tearing the place up! He’s followed up his birdies at 1 and 3 with a couple more at 4 and 5, the latest the result of an 18-foot rattle after a pin-high tee shot. Stunning stuff! All of a sudden, he’s -3 overall, and though the course is obviously playing much harder this morning, the South African star is living proof that the stronger wind isn’t totally restrictive.

8.58am BST

Andy Sullivan very nearly drains a long putt from off the front of 1 for birdie. But he’ll have to do with a par that keeps him at -4. A bit of trouble for Kjeldsen at 5, stuck in a deep bunker at the front of the green. You can only see his hat. But he splashes out brilliantly to a couple of feet, and saves his par. He’s still -5. His playing partner Bill Haas drops a shot, though, the legacy of a poor tee shot. He’s back to -3. And on 2, Mickelson’s approach is short and wide right, and his chip onto the green isn’t all that, kicking off to the right and leaving a 12-footer for his par. A nervy one. But he hits it with confidence, and the right-hand edge of the cup snaffles the ball down. He’s still at -8. But why couldn’t the right-hand edge of the cup snaffle the ball down yesterday on 18?!?

8.48am BST

A birdie for Soren Kjeldsen on the relatively easy par-five 4th, and the Dane joins Patrick Reed and Martin Kaymer in a tie for second. Tony Finau drops back to -3 after seriously underhitting a chip into 7 and leaving himself too much to do for his par. Charl Schwartzel looks as though he means business today: another birdie, this time at 3, and he’s into red figures for the tournament. And an early birdie for Matt Kuchar, at 2. He’ll be buoyed by that, after an appalling finish to his round yesterday: three short putts missed at 16 and 17 followed by bunker problems at the last. He’s back to -1 for the championship. “I’m with Phil, whatever,” writes

Tony Blair
Ed Ed. “And I’m also with Phachara Khongwatmai, come what may. (Sorry, couldn’t resist the cheap pun.)”

8.42am BST

A staunch start by Lee Westwood. He started awfully yesterday, out in 38, but rescued his round with birdie at 12 and eagle at 16. He signed for a level-par 71. So today he’s taken a flyer through 1 with his second, and his chip coming back wasn’t much cop. But in goes the 12-foot saver. Par. His playing partner Ernie Els, meanwhile, who also carded a bang-average 71 yesterday, is getting used to opening-hole disasters in majors. He took four putts from no distance at Hoylake a few years ago, and famously melted down at Augusta earlier this year with six putts from three feet. Now, attempting to chip over a greenside bunker, he’s decelerated and dumped his ball in the sand. He gets up and down, but that’s a needless bogey; he’s +1. The third member of a storied group, Lefty, lags up from 50 feet to three, and tidies up for his par. He looks happy enough as he wanders off to the teebox at 2.

8.34am BST

A slow start for Beef. Andrew Johnson shot 69 yesterday, but he’s played the opening hole very gingerly. Most folk finding themselves just off the green so far today have putted up in the Scottish style, but our big bearded hero took out his wedge, and didn’t get it particularly close. He then pulled an appalling five-foot putt left of the hole. It was missing from the moment it left the blade. He’s back to -1. Coming behind him, it’s Lefty, who finds the green with his second, but he’s right at the back with the pin at the front. A club too much. He bounds up the fairway with a smile, but he’ll need all his lagging skills - much practised and very much on display several times yesterday - to get away with par here. That’s the news. Over to Gary Naylor with the weather: “I grew up in links country (the stretch of coast between Liverpool and Southport) and literally never took any notice of the weather forecast as it was hardly ever right. Even a mile inland, conditions could be completely different and we would go from ‘summer’ to ‘winter’ when the wind shifted.”

8.28am BST

The leader is out and about! It’ll be interesting to see how Phil Mickelson reacts to coming so close to that epochal 62 yesterday. How that birdie putt on the last didn’t drop is one of the great unanswered questions in the fields of physics and spirituality. The poor man was close to tears when he was being interviewed about it on Sky Sports last night, admitting that feeling so upset after shooting a record-equalling 63, and building a three-shot lead in the Open, was a very conflicting experience. I’m sure he’s recovered, but sport’s a funny thing, there’s just an outside chance that it’s shaken him a bit. Creaming his iron down the middle of 1 suggests he’s regained his equilibrium, no problem. Another birdie blitz before the weather comes in? You wouldn’t put it past him.

8.20am BST

Early moves. A birdie for Bill Haas on the opening hole moves the US star to -4, four shots off Phil Mickelson’s lead. Francesco Molinari has birdied 2; he’s -3. KT Kim picked up a stroke at 3 to move to -1. The 2012 Masters champion Charl Schwartzel hit a gorgeous approach at the opening hole, an aggressive line over the bunker guarding front left to the pin just behind, and was rewarded with a birdie that takes him back to level par. Tony Finau has perhaps been the most interesting so far: he failed to get up and down from the back of 3 and bogeyed, birdied the first par-five at 4, then hit an awful tee shot at the par-three 5th, short and right, only to swish an elaborate lob over a bunker that was snookering him to a couple of feet for par. So he’s still -4 after all that. The wind’s not too strong yet, so until it picks up, there are chances for some of these early starters to make hay. Phil Mickelson’s out in ten minutes. Just sayin’.

Incidentally, some of the players are wearing black ribbons in memory of those who lost their lives in last night’s atrocity in Nice. The French flag next to the main leaderboard has been respectfully lowered to half mast.

8.10am BST

The weather is obviously going to be quite a factor today. At the Open, that’s exactly how it should be. The twin threats of wind and rain have arrived, causing conditions which are probably best described as changeable. This morning’s wind won’t be super-strong, but the players might have to fight it on the front nine, making the opening holes a much trickier proposition than they were yesterday. They’re certainly playing longer. Later on, stronger crosswinds are expected to come into play, which will keep the field on its collective tootsies all right. Sustained showers will arrive late morning and mid-to-late afternoon. And there could be periods of calm at the tail end of the day. So that’s all bases and eventualities covered. Apart from sun. But hey, we’ll always have Thursday.

HACK HAND-WASHING DEPT.: All of this comes with the usual caveats and disclaimers: you can never quite second guess the weather at the Open, let’s see how things develop as the day goes on, the Met Office’s seaweed might be broken, etc.

5.52pm BST

Good morning. The beauty of links golf? No two days are ever the same. Troon’s defences were down yesterday, as Phil Mickelson came within the width of a dimple to a record-breaking 62; a third of the field were under par. But today? Here comes the wind and rain! It’ll be different, for sure. But no less entertaining. The best players in the world, versus classic Open conditions. It’s on!

The first-round leaderboard:

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