Shane Lowry doing it his own way as he leads the Open pack

"I can get a bit down on myself and a bit hot-headed at times, but I really feel like that's why I've had the career I've had. I've spoken to people, my coach and my team about this at times. If I go out there and try to be somebody I'm not, you're just not going to be successful.” 

Ireland's Shane Lowry reacts to a near birdie on the 17th during day two of The Open at Royal Troon. Picture: Owen Humphreys/PA Wire.

Links golf at its best is a finger that never stops poking your ribs. On days like Friday on Scotland’s west coast it can feel like an ensuite tap dripping while you try to sleep. Most of us tend to snap. Shane Lowry could have snapped.

Lowry had done almost everything right until he stood over his second shot at the fiendish 11th. He had dropped just one shot in 28 holes, at the par-three 5th under an hour earlier, when his tee shot snagged a greenside bunker.