On Day Two, Phil Mickelson added a second round of 69 to his opening 63 at Royal Troon for a 10-under-par total of 132, one shot lower than the previous best at the Ayrshire venue set by American Bobby Clampett in 1982 and equalled by Darren Clarke in 1997.
And although that was only good enough for a one-shot lead over Sweden’s Henrik Stenson, Mickelson will be hoping of a repeat of the result at Muirfield in 2013, when he claimed his fifth major title as Stenson finished runner-up.
Here, we round-up the best and worst of Day Two of The Open.
PLAYER OF THE DAY: CHARL SCHWARTZEL
The spotlight was on the 31-year-old South African because of his decision to change his clubs on the week of the Open Championship. However, the 2012 Masters champion defended his move from Nike to PXG saying he felt extremely comfortable with his new clubs.
Yesterday, in conditions not as ideal as the opening day when he shot a one-over par 72, Schwartzel fired the
second best round of the day, a five-under par 66 that included five birdies in his first seven holes, to climb up 69 places and in the mix heading into the weekend.
SHOT OF THE DAY: PHIL MICKELSON
The Lefty thrilled the fans the first two days, but there was perhaps no better shot than his brilliant wedge tee shot on the iconic Postage Stamp, the par-3 eighth hole, which spun back to within a postage stamp distance for a hole-in-one.
FLOP OF THE DAY: LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN
A hole-in-one on Thursday was followed by a shocking round of 83 yesterday as the 2010 champion simply faded away. That included a train-wreck on the par-4 11th hole, the Railway, where he recorded a quintuple-bogey nine.
QUOTE OF THE DAY: SOREN KJELDSEN
“When I have my mind in the right place I can do whatever I want. Basically, a good state of mind is where everything teaches you something.” – The Dane almost sounded like a Zen Master after shooting a bogey-free 68 yesterday.