Round Two:
9.00pm: The cut falls at +3 so it's goodbye, I'm afraid, to three of our tips - Padraig Harrington, Sergio Garcia and Robert Allenby. Very disappointed although at least Harrington has an excuse. He reveals after his round: "On the 10th hole I hit a three-wood and my neck went. I just wasn't able to coil on the way home. I was swinging the club with my hands and arms and hitting a lot of poor shots because of it." However, 33/1 Davis Love and 66/1 Stuart Appleby are here for the weekend and both sit in the top 20 at one-under-par. They'll have to play extremely well to get in the thick of contention but we are keeping our fingers crossed. Anyway, that's it for another day so see you tomorrow.
8.45pm: Here is Saturday's weather forecast. Saturday: Cloudy with morning showers likely, then variably cloudy with only isolated showers in the afternoon.
7.45pm: It's getting towards the end of another day and Thomas Levet arrives for his press conference after his round of 70 leaves him in second place at halfway. The Frenchman is in incredibly relaxed mood after his win at Loch Lomond last week and this is clearly coming through on the course. He reveals it is just a case of him going out and playing the game at the moment. He is very entertaining and extremely cerebral also – he speaks four languages and is currently adding Japanese to the CV. Whereas Skip Kendall was stressing that he must try to be relaxed, Levet already is and this will surely help his cause over the next two days.
6.55pm: Levet can only par the last to finish six under so Kendall will hold the lead going into the weekend.
6.30pm: We almost skip the Skip Kendall press conference as we're back in the canteen for our two-course evening meal of sausage sandwich and cake. But the decision to go in at the back hiding vanilla sponges under a napkin is an excellent one as our Open leader is a really nice bloke. His 80-year-old mother is sat at the front and shakes her head as Skip recalls the time when he almost cut his finger off whilst trying to slice a bagel in half. The waiter question inevitably comes up and Skip reveals that he used to go and practice hitting shots between shifts. Then comes the moment when I pay the price for watching too many Carry On films. In reply to a question about those practice shots, Skip says: "I used to shag my own balls" - an astonishing admission with his mother present. But, no, it's not a disgusting act of perversion, rather an American term for collecting the shots he's just hit. Nevertheless it leaves me sniggering and I almost fall off my chair and onto my fanny.
5.50pm: Skip Kendall finishes on seven-under and looks almost certain to be at least tied for the lead at the halfway mark. But don't get too excited if somehow you've backed him. He has a reputation for faltering when in contention and has never won once since joining the PGA Tour in 1990. He used to be a waiter and no doubt that will come up when he's brought in here for his press conference.
5.35pm: With conditions outside still relatively calm it's no surprise that there's plenty of good afternoon scores going on the board. Thankfully some of our tips are joining in the birdie rush. Appleby has added two more to go to -2 while Padraig Harrington is two under for the day and back to +3. Sergio Garcia is hanging in there on +4 but may still another birdie to make the cut.
5.15pm: Listening to the radio whilst following Harrington and co around and it seems like Thomas Levet could be about 10-under with all his putts just shaving the hole. But he drops one at the 12th and suddenly Skip Kendall vaults into the lead with an eagle at 16. I tried to back him at 240 on Betfair earlier today but my computer crashed and the price went. Grrrrr.
4.45pm: Harrington, always a jaunty walker, has an even bigger spring in his step when I catch up with him bounding down the first. A good omen perhaps as he was scowling when I saw him yesterday. I follow him for four holes and he plays some good stuff, tapping in for birdie at the fourth to climb back to +4. He still has a lot to do even to make the cut but the signs are positive. Appleby makes an early bogey but gets it back at the fourth and looks to be driving it miles. As they play the fourth, another of our men, Davis Love, is coming up the 14th. It appears that he's putting in a good shift as he's one under for the day and level for the tournament. I follow him in and a great bunker shot at the 16th leaves him with a short birdie putt which he holes. This is much better. Pars at the last two holes and he finishes at one under - far from out of it.
3.15pm: At the moment the UNISYS computer suggests that the cut will fall at +4. Hopefully two of our tips - Sergio Garcia and Padraig Harrington - can play well this afternoon and qualify for the weekend. Harrington and our other hope, Stuart Appleby, go out now so I'm going to follow them for a few holes.
3.05pm: Vijay Singh is the narrow favourite on Betfair at 8/1 and the Fijian certainly sounded confident after his second round 70. He said: "I liked the way I played today. I struck the ball beautifully coming in."
2.35pm: Choi immediately gives one back as he bogeys the eighth. Thomas Levet now holds the lead on his own at five-under.
2.25pm: A giant roar as Monty birdies the first while at the top of the leaderboard it's all change. KJ Choi stiffs his approch at seven to make it a three-way tie but that only lasts seconds as Paul Casey double bogeys the third.
2.10pm: Joint leader Paul Casey starts with two straight pars but has to hole two good putts.
1.55pm: When your outright bets aren't going well, there's always the in-running markets and I've decided to have a little on Adam Scott at 48 on Betfair. I was really impressed by him in his press conference on Wednesday where he said he wanted to have two solid rounds and then go to work at the weekend. Well, he's certainly got a good base after a second round 68 left him one under for the tournament so hopefully he can now throw down a big challenge. As for our outright tips, Davis Love is back to level par after a birdie at four so hopefully he can start to climb the leaderboard.
1.15pm: Lee Westwood finishes with a level par 71 to stand one over. He's safely in for the weekend and could still play a part. Westwood has a horse running in the 6.50pm at Hamilton tonight and a couple of the press boys have had a word for it. The horse, Tequila Sheila, is a course and distance winner and could start at around 3/1.
12.50pm: Retief Goosen press conferences are never a laugh-a-minute but he sounds confident and welcomes the tough conditions. Asked if he's had any lucky breaks so far, Goosen hints that he's probably had bad ones with a few bad lies doing their best, but failing, to de-rail him. With that Money List bet in mind, I pipe up with a question too, shamelessly asking him if he's actively chasing a third Order of Merit. After a playing a straight bat at first he concludes by saying that he's “definitely focusing on trying to win it again”. Cheers Retief, that's all I needed to know!
12.30pm: After a trek to the far end of the course, I pick up the group of Allenby, Goosen and Haas at the 12th. The scorer shows that 66/1 tip Allenby is level par so if he can play these last seven holes in perhaps one under he's right there. He plays them in six over! After leaking his approach to the right on 12, he plays a poor chip and then takes another four to get down which all adds up to an ugly triple bogey. He drops shots all the way in and at five over is a certainty to miss the cut. Message to self: Never ever back Allenby in an Open again. He's done this before to me and I keep pretending it hasn't happened. But I may just have witnessed this year's Open champion in the form of Retief Goosen. Okay, it isn't a vintage display and he can play a lot better but his calmness and ability to put a score together puts him in the very top bracket. Even when he misses fairways or greens, he gets out of trouble with the minimum of fuss and it's typified by his par at the last when he plays a magnificent bunker shot to within inches of the hole. He's had just one bogey in 36 holes and at three-under is in great shape for the weekend. Although I haven't tipped/backed him this week, I did go for him in the European Order of Merit at 16/1 so I do have a vested interest. He leads the way in the Euro money race after back-to-back wins so it's looking good. However, before I get accused of bragging, my other tips need to seriously buck their ideas up this afternoon. Allenby has already fallen by the wayside and Stuart Appleby (level), Davis Love (+1), Sergio Garcia (+4) and Padraig Harrington (+5) could all still miss the cut. Still, let's not throw our hand in yet as all are quality players, who could make an afternoon charge. The weather hasn't changed that much from this morning although anything in the 60s would be an excellent round.
11.10am Dave T has ventured off to the far end of Troon - well holes seven through 11 anyway - so I deccided to catch the back end of the threeball involving Ian Poulter. I must admit he looked a bit stern going on to the tee at 17 but that had all changed by the green. He had a bit of banter with one of the fans in the gallery and then proceeded to role in a 25-footer for birdie. Better was yet to come as he ignored another enormous passenger jet rumbling overhead at about 200 feet to split the fairway with his closing drive. He finishes with a par for a 72 and one over total. Considering no-one has managed to surpass the five under overnight lead, he is not in bad shape for the weekend.
10.00am: Michael Campbell is now tied for the lead after a birdie at the eighth. The best placed of our tips, Robert Allenby, made an early birdie but has slipped back to one under - four off the pace - after a disappointing bogey on the par five sixth. The ominous figure of Vijay Singh is now just one off the pace.
9.50am: The idea that you make your score on the front nine at Troon and hang onto it on the back was certainly borne out yesterday. Five holes were played in an average of under par on Thursday, the 2nd, 4th, 6th, 8th and 16th. And the four hardest holes, according to the average scores, were the 11th, 10th, 18th and 12th.
9.40am: Great breakfast again with arguably a better quality sausage.
9.15am: It must be warming up outside as Tiger is now playing in short sleeves. Mike Weir is making a charge and three successive birdies have taken him to three-under. We're making a charge too - to the canteen to hoover up a full English.
8.50am: We follow the Clarke-Scott-Perry group for three holes and, although Scott birdies the first, there are no real fireworks. Perhaps the highlight is a bloke in the crowd shouting across to Gary Lineker that he was an apprentice with him at Leicester. Let's just say that, if it's true, Lineker was an apprentice in the late 50s. Gary, walking inside the ropes, looks a bit non-plussed but, gent that he is, comes over to shake the man's hand and then poses for a picture with the man's son/grandson. As we walk back in, the wind is more in our faces now, meaning it's downwind for the players on the outward nine. That should make the par five fourth a bit of a doddle and when we return to the press tent we see that Clarke, Scott and Perry have all birdied it. Perry also birdies the fifth to climb back to -3. Michael Campbell briefly joins the leaders at -5 after a birdie at the first but drops one back with a bogey at two.
7.20am: John Daly birdies the first to move to -2 for the Championship and just three off the lead. The 1995 Open winner played very well yesterday, hitting 13 greens in regulation, so he could be a factor this week. Time to sample a bit more of the action now.
6.50am: Poulter is wearing white plus-fours, black jumper, black hat and black and white tartan shocks. Classic stuff. He poses for the cameras as he walks off the first tee and has every reason to smile after crunching a fine drive. There are blue skies overhead now with the grey clouds retreating inland. If you look out to sea, the wind is directly into your face so the players are facing quite a stiff crosswind when they stand on the tee. Not surprisingly the first two groups - Poulter, Simon Dyson & SK Ho and Peter Lonard, Gary Emerson & John Huston all see their tee-shots blown into the left rough. It's only a wedge to the green but only Huston can birdie. The rest manage pars except Ho who bogeys after missing the green to the left.
6.20am: It was cold, wet and windy when we set off from Ayr but DJ had turned his windscreen wipers off by the time we reached Troon. It's still quite blustery although there are some brighter skies on the horizon. The first group are out at 6.30am and that will answer one of the key questions of the day - what colour trousers has Ian Poulter got on?
THE OPEN NEWS
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