Benign conditions again greet early Open starters

The early starters again looked to have struck lucky with good conditions on the second day of the 139th Open Championship at St Andrews.

South African Louis Oosthuizen is looking to overhaul overnight leader Rory McIlroy. McIlroy carded a stunning opening 63, nine under par, to equal the lowest round ever in a major championship, but Oosthuizen was only two behind following an excellent 65 compiled despite tougher conditions.

Oosthuizen was in the second group out today at 6.41am and opened with a regulation par four to remain seven under par, while the first birdies had already been recorded in the opening group.

Veteran Australian Peter Senior had birdied the first but dropped a shot at the second to lie one over, while Denmark’s Anders Hansen – who finished his first round quadruple bogey-eagle – birdied the second to improve to four over.

The halfway cut currently looked like being around one under par, but that could change significantly if the kind of bad weather which forced Wednesday’s Champions Challenge to be cancelled returned.