Lowry overcomes double on 11 to hold Open lead

The 11th hole at Royal Troon is one of the toughest in major championship golf, named "The Railway" thanks to a set of train tracks marked out of bounds all down the right side.

For over 30 minutes of his round at the Open Championship on Friday, it looked as though the challenging hole might derail Shane Lowry's hopes. However, not even a smother-hook into the gorse, a 20-minute discussion with his caddie about where to drop, and an eventual double-bogey could stop Lowry's charge to the top of the leaderboard in Scotland.

Lowry stands atop the field through two rounds of a blustery Open Championship five years after he held the same position at Royal Portrush en route to his first major win.

The Irishman righted the ship after the struggles at No. 11 with four straight pars and birdies on holes 16 and 18 to post 7-under and hold a two-shot edge over Justin Rose and Daniel Brown as the weekend beckons.

World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler is lurking ominously alongside Billy Horschel and Dean Burmester five shots back, with Xander Schauffele, Patrick Cantlay, Corey Conners, and Jason Day sitting at 1-under.

Lowry pointed to his patience throughout the process as one reason the ordeal on the challenging hole barely set him back.

"I felt like through that whole process of that 20 minutes, it was whatever it was, of taking the drop, seeing where I could drop, and I felt like I was very calm and composed and really knew that I was doing the right thing, and I felt like Darren (Reynolds, caddie) did a great job too, just kind of - he kept telling me, 'We have loads of time,'" Lowry explained in the press center. "To be honest, I was happy enough leaving there with a 6. It was not like - it wasn't a disaster. I was still leading the tournament."

Lowry didn't have any time to sulk about his issues on No. 11, as the 12th hole at Royal Troon was playing as the third toughest Friday - a lengthy par 4 straight into the wind. He admitted afterward that two quality shots to find the green there helped him steady things for the inward stretch.

"I think the 12th hole for me was key. Twelve was playing very difficult, straight into the wind. I hit driver, 4-iron there too, the best shots I've hit all week, to about 30 feet and made par there," Lowry said. "From then on, I felt like down out of the left coming in, it was playing quite difficult, but I felt like you could give yourself chances on the way in, and that's what I did."

Lowry held the lead heading to the closing par 4 at Troon and once again hit an excellent approach to birdie the final hole and punctuate his round.

That set him two clear of Brown - who backed up his first-round lead with a solid 72 in just his second career major round - with the afternoon wave hitting the course.

Conditions would only worsen as the day grew longer, with Rose's exceptional 68 a full eight shots better than the average from the later group. The Englishman holed over 130 feet of putts - including a 41-footer for birdie on the final hole - to charge up the leaderboard and grab his share of the second spot. The 43-year-old didn't hold an exemption to The Open this year and was forced to make it through qualifying just to participate. He did just that and now sees himself in an excellent place to make a run at a second career major.

While Rose and Brown are the only players within four of Lowry's lead, he knows there's serious firepower lurking even further down the leaderboard.

"I'm not sure Scottie Scheffler is too worried about anyone with the form he's in," Lowry said. "He's obviously on the leaderboard, and he's one person that people are going to be talking about."

While Scheffler has a chance to make a run, many of the other top players in the world won't have the opportunity after missing the cut. Bryson DeChambeau, Rory McIlroy, Ludvig Aberg, Wyndham Clark, and Viktor Hovland are among the top 10 players in the OWGR who won't be around this weekend.