British Open 2017: Jordan Spieth leads by two as Birkdale bares teeth

Fellow Irishman and former Open champion Darren Clarke admitted he found it hard to watch as McIlroy floundered early in his round.

“You’re Rory McIlroy”, he told him. Invited to hit the first ball of the championship, the champion in 1998 at Royal Birkdale, Mark O’meara, missed his shot, sending his ball out of bounds.

If they were rusty, you’d hate to see greased. If you love him, it gives you something to root for this weekend.

“There’s a whole lot of trouble to be had, and trying to hit solid shots that the wind is going to affect the least is challenging”, he said after completing a calmly efficient round that included four bogeys – two in the last three holes – and three birdies.

McIlroy hasn’t missed the cut at consecutive majors since 2010 (Masters, U.S. Open) and is taking confidence from winning the Deutsche Bank Championship in Boston in September previous year after being 4 over through three holes.

Click on the video above to watch the top shots from day two! .

Spieth is tied with fellow countrymen Brooks Keopka and Matt Kuchar heading into Round 2. “But because of the way I started, I actually feel really positive”. So there was no easy or draw this year. O’Meara’s opening drive on the notoriously tough first hole at Royal Birkdale rode the wind into the gorse bushes on the right. It’s his first missed cut of the 2016-17 season, but Mickelson didn’t seem dismayed by it. “I was surprised because. I thought that would have an effect on me”, he added.

“I know I’ve been around a while, but I also feel like I’m in about the prime of my golfing career”.

“I just wanted to continue with that good feeling from the last few holes (on Thursday) and went out with that positivity and trust in myself and just need to keep that for the next two days”.

On Thursday McIlroy was five-over through his first six holes, on Friday he was three-under after the same stretch.

“I was nervous going out”.

It was not an historically great round, but it was pretty damn good.

By then, he shared the lead with the guy who had been to Las Vegas since the big galleries last saw him, and who fielded a question from a reporter seeking verification that Koepka did not play golf while there. I would not want to be one of them.

World No 1 Dustin Johnson, of course, was set to head into The Masters back in April as a red-hot favourite on the back of three successive wins, including two World Golf Championships, until he injured himself and had to pull out without even making it to the first tee.

England’s Ian Poulter, runner-up in the 2008 Open on this course, Spaniard Rafael Cabrera-Bello and Americans Justin Thomas and Charley Hoffman were among a group of players a stroke further back following rounds of 67.