The rain pounded hard on Portrush and that was no issue for Matt Fitzpatrick, who after 17 months of fretting and flapping resembled a man who can walk on water. All well and good if he wasn’t chasing a guy that levitates.
As such, there were two ways to look at the Open leaderboard with 36 holes played and 36 to go.
If we were to be parochial about it, the temptation would be to zero in on a Yorkshireman in the envious position of contending for the Claret Jug going into the weekend.
A round of 66, taking Fitzpatrick to nine under par, has so far made him the most compelling English candidate to end the 33-year search for Sir Nick Faldo’s successor at this tournament.
Alas, the ‘but’ is a rather big one. Huge even. Because Scottie Scheffler, the world No 1, is one shot better and playing the kind of golf that suggests his existential questions around the meaning of life are no barrier to being the best at this silly game. His round was one of the last to finish and his score of 64 was the finest we saw all day.
He was immense. Can he do it on a wet Friday on a links course in Northern Ireland? It would seem he can and we should moderate our enquiries.
Matt Fitzpatrick is second on the leaderboard after the first two rounds at Royal Portrush
Yorkshireman Fitzpatrick is nine under par, after carding a five-under round of 66 on Friday
Chasing him down will be tough, but Fitzpatrick did so in winning the 2022 US Open and has plainly found enough in his game to pose a major threat of his own. He is one of three men in a breakaway group that stands within one or two of the lead, but will take no comfort from the proximity of Brian Harman, who is at eight under and not the sort of chap to whom you wish to present a target.
The latter, of course, was the champion in 2023, or as he became known, the ‘Butcher of Hoylake’ due to his love of hunting anything from alligators to turkeys.
The American’s magnificent round of 65 put him alongside the resurgent force of China’s Li Haotong. Tyrrell Hatton, thriving here on a routine of Netflix and three pints of Guinness per night, is part of the cluster on five under with Bob MacIntyre.
We can return to their chase in a moment.
First, to Fitzpatrick, who between March 2024 and May 2025 plummeted from eight in the world to 85th. Even now he is only 59th, but after sacking his popular caddie Billy Foster in March and rediscovering how to hit a decent iron shot, he is rising fast. Recent Tour results have trended from 17th to eighth to fourth in Scotland last weekend, but he is having a great time on the links of Northern Ireland.
That was most clearly shown with his ignition after the turn, when having played the front in 34, he blitzed four straight birdies. They included one of only 16 claimed all day from 156 players at the 11th.
If there was a sour note, it was the three-putt that limited him to a five for par at the second, and a worse one from inside three feet at the 17th when hunting a birdie to go 10 under. That stroke horseshoed around the hole and issued a mule-kick in the guts, only for the former US Open champion to save par from 23-feet at the last.
It was a stellar effort on a day when Fitzpatrick and the rest of the later starters had to navigate the heaviest of the rains. Naturally, those in the earlier waves, including Rory McIlroy, who is six off the lead on three under after a 69, might argue they had to contend with stronger winds. Swings and roundabouts.
American Scottie Scheffler is just ahead of Fitzpatrick following a stunning Friday round of 64
Scheffler pictured after making a birdie putt on the 16th green at Royal Portrush Golf Club
Fitzpatrick said: ‘I felt like every facet of my game was on today and I felt like I really played solid. To take advantage of the opportunities I had out there was obviously really positive.
‘I’ve given myself an opportunity to win the golf tournament, but there’s still a hell of a long way to go. Obviously the aim of the game is to stay in it for as long as possible and hopefully you can pull away right at the death. I’m obviously 50 percent there. We’ll see what the weekend brings.’
Which feels like the right time to talk about Scheffler. His mind has been swinging all over the place this week, when he volunteered that winning has become so routine that he doesn’t find it so fulfilling anymore. He suggested a victory here for a fourth major, and three-quarters of the way to a career Slam, would make him satisfied for approximately 20 minutes.
He is in position to test the theory, while simultaneously silencing those of us who queried if he was ready to conquer this quirky, bumpy, original form of the game. Like Fitzpatrick, he played in the driving range, and his round was sublime.
Having struggled mildly off the tee on Thursday, he hit six of the seven fairways on the front nine in his second and burned his way to four birdies, including three on the trot from the fifth.
Playing the inward nine, his only blip came at the 11th, when he drove through the bend to the left-hand rough and couldn’t get up-and-down from 72 yards to save par after bunting out his recovery. There are limits to what he can do, but not many – there were four birdies on that journey in. Sublime.
We might say similar of Bryson DeChambeau, who shot 65, but his success comes from making the cut after the debacle of his 78 on day one. At one over, he won’t win the tournament, but in making the weekend he proved his resilience.
Elsewhere, the 2019 Shane Lowry carded a 70 to sit two under, but it involved a rules controversy on the 11th. Having addressed his ball in the rough, he abruptly changed plan and attempted a practise swing, with the complication that his ball then moved. It was clear to see and as he didn’t return it to the original spot, he was at risk of a retrospective two-stroke penalty.
Bryson DeChambeau bounced back from a poor opening round of 78 by carding a gutsy 65
Shane Lowry, 38, saw his second round on Friday overshadowed by a potential rules breach
MacIntyre certainly left the course with a bigger smile than his Ryder Cup team-mate after his 66. ‘There’s potential,’ he said. ‘It could be anyone’s time. I’m in a good spot. I feel happy, confident, comfortable. I’m going to go out and give it my best shot all the way through Sunday afternoon
‘I’m not scared. I’m not going to back away.’
Among those to miss the cut were Brooks Koepka, Collin Morikawa and Cameron Smith, who plummeted to eight over with a 78. Buried lower down was his fellow Australian Adam Scott, armed the smoothest swing in golf and only able to extract a 79 from these conditions.
Of lesser renown was South Africa’s Shaun Norris, notable mainly for taking a sextuple-bogey 10 on the fourth.
