15 July 2011 10:17 GMT

One bounce and straight in the hole was the way Tom Watson handled the 178-yard sixth hole this morning. After five solid pars the veteran 61-year-old five-time Open Champion hit the perfect tee shot and received a rapturous standing ovation from the huge gallery covering the sandhills around the green.

His young amateur playing partner, Tom Lewis, who was joint overnight leader with Thomas Bjorn, has had a less successful start to the second round after his remarkable 65 yesterday. He dropped a shot at the fourth and was maybe distracted by Watson’s hole-in-one, hauling his tee shot far to the left into rough. He recovered well to 12 feet, but the putt missed on the left. In one hole he was suddenly three shots worse than the man who is three times his age.

Ahead of them Charl Schwartzel is showing something of the form he displayed in winning this year’s Masters at Augusta, peppering the pins with accurate iron shots and holing birdie putts at the second, third and fifth. He is three under for the day and two under for the Championship after a battling 71 yesterday.