Dynamic Paul Dunne has Silver Medal in his sights

Paul Dunne will head into today’s third round as Ireland’s leading competitor at St Andrews and closing in on the R&A’s Silver Medal for low amateur following another impressive day at The 144th Open Championship.

The Greystones amateur shot a second consecutive three-under-par 69 that moved him onto the leaderboard, just four shots off the lead held by Dustin Johnson, whose second round was due to resume this morning with five holes to complete.

The 22-year-old birdied the last to the delight of a large contingent from his hometown Greystones Golf Club to reach halfway as the leading amateur and with his sights set on following Rory McIlroy in 2007 as the most recent Irish winner of the prestigious prize.

His position on the leaderboard, a top-10 position within reach, and a late start this afternoon on moving day of a major could cause Dunne’s expectations to upgrade from Silver Medal to Claret Jug but the recently graduated University of Alabama-Birmingham business student is far too canny for that, or for that matter thoughts of finishing low amateur.

“It’ll be a new experience, but I’m not 100 per cent sure how I’ll handle it,” he admitted of his position heading into the third round.

“The forecast is for high winds, so the course is going to play really tough. When it gets that windy it’s kind of hard to focus on anything else but the shots at hand.

“Obviously (finishing low amateur) would be brilliant,” Dunne conceded.

“It would be nice to get the Silver Medal, my last year as an amateur. It would be something I would remember forever.

“But there’s a lot of golf and a lot of bad weather to play in before that. I’m not going to think about it, I’m just going to see what the weather is like when I arrive here, put a new number in my head and go about my business tomorrow.”

Qualifier Dunne had missed the cut on his Open debut 12 months ago at Royal Liverpool but this time around said his experience over the first two days at St Andrews had been “really enjoyable”.

In stark contrast, Shane Lowry looks set to miss the cut after failing to make inroads after an opening one-over 73. The world number 45 had come into the tournament in good form following a tie for ninth at the US Open last month but despite the high hopes his prospects had taken a massive blow when he quadruple bogeyed the 17th on Thursday to finish with a one-over-par 73.

Last night Lowry could only go one better to finish on one over par, and when he failed to make birdie at the last having driven the par-four 18th green, his three-putt may well have cost him a place in the third round.

“Being honest, I’d have preferred if my tee shot had stayed in the Valley as it would have been easier from there,” Lowry said of his drive.

“Bit unlucky, putt on 17, putt on 15, missed a short putt on 14. It’s a bit annoying as my game is good enough to do something this weekend. That’s golf, it’s when you feel you’re going well, it really hits you a kick in the nuts.” It was not all doom and gloom for the Irish, though, with two-time Open champion Padraig Harrington shooting a 69 to move to three under, there were further signs of an Irish fightback after a disappointing opening round as his fellow major champions Graeme McDowell and Darren Clarke both moved towards making the cut.

McDowell was in the clubhouse with his round completed in the faltering light, level par for the tournament, right on the cutline, having double-bogeyed the 17th on the way to a 72. Clarke, the 2011 Open champion, had five to play this morning in order to protect his one under par score having started the second round at one over.