15 July 2011 11:44
GMT
Thomas Bjorn might well have been slightly surprised this morning when he surveyed the early second round scores at the 140th Open Championship.
The 40 year-old Dane did not begin his second round until 12.26, when he might have expected to have been overtaken by the early starters, but as it turned out he was still out in front as he stepped onto the first tee.
After a strangely muted morning, during which a large proportion of the field failed to take advantage of the benign weather conditions, Bjorn held a one shot lead over Lucas Glover, Ricky Barnes and Miguel Angel Jimenez as he hit his opening drive just off the right edge of the first fairway
At that point, fellow first round leader, Tom Lewis, had just holed a brave 20-foot putt for a par on the 415-yard par-4 10th but was still two over par for the day and only reigning Masters champion, South Africa’s Charl Schwartzel, seemed to be making a significant move, having played his first 12 holes in four under par to sit two shots behind the Dane.
At that stage, the early clubhouse lead was held by American, Chad Campbell, who posted a 68 to finishing his first 36-holes on 3-under par 137. Spaniard, Pablo Larrazabal, winner of the recent BMW International tournament in Germany, was one shot further back after a second round 70. Elsewhere, PGA Tour rookie, Kyle Stanley, started brightly but fell away to a two over par 72, finishing the round tied with fellow-American Anthony Kim (68) on level par 140.