Golf: Darren Clarke, as proud as anyone about what is already a golden era for Irish golf, has the chance this weekend to add another chapter to the remarkable story after working his way into a share of the lead after the second round of the British Open at Royal St George's.

Three weeks after he pulled out of a tournament in Germany to celebrate Rory McIlroy’s runaway US Open win, the 42-year-old shares the halfway lead with American Lucas Glover.

Clarke has not had a top 10 finish in a Major for a decade, but a second successive 68 at Sandwich takes him into the weekend on four under par.

And with the two first day pacesetters, English amateur Tom Lewis and Dane Thomas Bjorn, having rounds of 74 and 72 respectively, he will now occupy centre stage when he tees off tomorrow.

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A double bogey on the fourth, where a chip came back down a steep slope, was cancelled out by an eagle putt of around 80 feet just three holes later.

Four birdies and three bogeys followed, but he had the lead in the clubhouse on his own for a mere 10 minutes. Glover was in the following group.

Lewis saw 61-year-old playing partner Tom Watson hole-in-one at the sixth in the day’s most electrifying moment, but by scoring nine more than his lowest-ever round by an amateur in the event the 20-year-old from Welwyn Garden City dropped out of the top 10.

Bjorn is now joint third with Spain’s Miguel Angel Jimenez, German Martin Kaymer and American Chad Campbell.

Most early eyes had been on Young Tom and Old Tom Lewis and five-time champion Watson.

Watson’s ace with a four-iron was the 15th hole-in-one of his life, his four-iron hopping in on the first bounce.

The 2009 runner-up he would have been the oldest major champion by 11 years if only he had parred the final hole at Turnberry continued to amaze with a 70. On two over he made his 24th Open cut and extended his own record as the oldest man to play all four rounds.

Lewis had a television camera in his face the moment he left the practice putting green and, not surprisingly in the circumstances, could not repeat his first day heroics and had a nasty finish with bogeys on the final two holes, avoiding going out of bounds on the last only by hitting a post.

McIlroy remains a threat at level par after a 69, but world number one Luke Donald bogeyed the last four holes and crashed out on six over.

Second-ranked Lee Westwood and double champion Harrington joined him in an early exit after finishing on four over.

Graeme McDowell endured a nightmare day on the links as he went from two under to five over after a 77 that included five bogeys and a double bogey at the ninth.

SECOND ROUND FINAL SCORES

(Par 70, British and Irish unless stated)

136Lucas Glover (USA) 66 70, Darren Clarke 68 68

137Chad Campbell (USA) 69 68, Martin Kaymer (Ger) 68 69, Thomas Bjorn (Den) 65 72, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Esp) 66 71

138Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 71 67, Pablo Larrazabal (Esp) 68 70, Davis Love (USA) 70 68, Tom Lehman (USA) 71 67, George Coetzee (Rsa) 69 69, Dustin Johnson (USA) 70 68, Anders Hansen (Den) 69 69

139Phil Mickelson (USA) 70 69, Adam Scott (Aus) 69 70, Tom Lewis (am) 65 74, Jeff Overton (USA) 68 71, Ryan Palmer (USA) 68 71

140Steve Stricker (USA) 69 71, Anthony Kim (USA) 72 68, Zach Johnson (USA) 72 68, Kyle Stanley (USA) 68 72, YE Yang (Kor) 71 69, Webb Simpson (USA) 66 74, Robert Rock 69 71, Fredrik Jacobson (Swe) 70 70, Simon Dyson 68 72, Yuta Ikeda (Jpn) 69 71, Rory McIlroy71 69, Rickie Fowler (USA) 70 70, Sergio Garcia (Esp) 70 70

141Jason Day (Aus) 71 70, Spencer Levin (USA) 72 69, Rory Sabbatini (Rsa) 71 70, Richard Green (Aus) 70 71, Bubba Watson (USA) 69 72, Charles Howell III (USA) 71 70, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 74 67, Robert Allenby (Aus) 69 72, Gary Boyd 71 70, Stephen Gallacher 70 71, Stewart Cink (USA) 70 71, Seung-Yul Noh (Kor) 69 72, Richard McEvoy 69 72

142Joost Luiten (Ned) 73 69, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 72 70, Harrison Frazar (USA) 72 70, Kenneth Ferrie 71 71, Mark Wilson (USA) 74 68, Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 70 72, Justin Rose 72 70, Jim Furyk (USA) 72 70, Tom Watson (USA) 72 70, Ricky Barnes (USA) 68 74, Jung-Gon Hwang (Kor) 68 74, Bo Van Pelt (USA) 73 69, Bill Haas (USA) 72 70, Peter Uihlein (am) (USA) 71 71

143Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 69 74, Henrik Stenson (Swe) 72 71, Fredrik Andersson Hed (Swe) 68 75, Floris De Vries (Ned) 70 73, Gregory Havret (Fra) 72 71, Simon Khan 71 72, Gary Woodland (USA) 75 68, Ryan Moore (USA) 69 74, KJ Choi (Kor) 71 72, Paul Casey 74 69, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 73 70, Paul Lawrie 73 70, Matthew Millar (Aus) 71 72

MISSED CUT

144Thomas Aiken (Rsa) 74 70, Bryden Macpherson (am) (Aus) 71 73, Lee Westwood 71 73, Pádraig Harrington73 71, JB Holmes (USA) 69 75, Alejandro Canizares (Esp) 73 71, Justin Leonard (USA) 70 74, Ben Crane (USA) 71 73, Danny Willett 69 75, Graeme Storm 70 74, Hunter Mahan (USA) 75 69, Ross Fisher 71 73, Peter Hanson (Swe) 73 71, Sean O'Hair (USA) 73 71, Rick Kulacz (Aus) 74 70

145 Graeme McDowell68 77, Peter Whiteford 70 75, Brandt Snedeker (USA) 75 70, Nick Watney (USA) 74 71, Matteo Mannessero (Ita) 73 72, Camilo Villegas (Col) 71 74, Alexander Noren (Swe) 69 76

146Robert Karlsson (Swe) 72 74, Angel Cabrera (Arg) 72 74, Luke Donald 71 75, John Daly (USA) 72 74, Jason Dufner (USA) 74 72, Kevin Streelman (USA) 76 70, Neil Schietekat (Rsa) 73 73.

147Prom Meesawat (Tha) 72 75, Martin Maritz (Rsa) 73 74, Lee Cornfield 72 75, Jason Knutzon (USA) 75 72, Charley Hoffman 72 75, Martin Laird 72 75, Geoff Ogilvy (Aus) 74 73, Ian Poulter 69 78, Thorbjorn Olesen (Den) 73 74

148Bernhard Langer (Ger) 75 73, Lucas Bjerregaard (am) (Den) 73 75, Tadahiro Takayama (Jpn) 70 78, SM Bae (Kor) 72 76, Robert Garrigus (USA) 74 74, Mark Calcavecchia (USA) 69 79, Francesco Molinari (Ita) 73 75, Tetsuji Hiratsuka (Jpn) 75 73, E Els (Rsa) 72 76

149Jonathan Byrd (USA) 75 74, Sandy Lyle 73 76, Kurt Barnes (USA) 68 81, Brad Kennedy 72 72, Kevin Na (USA) 74 75, Mark Laskey 73 76,

150Steve Marino (USA) 74 76, Scott Jamieson 75 75, Nathan Green (Aus) 74 76, Aaron Baddeley (Aus) 77 73, Thomas Shadbolt 74 76, Chris Tidland (USA) 77 73, Simon Lilly 74 76

151Matt Kuchar (USA) 74 77, Chih-Bing Lam (Sing) 76 75, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) 75 76, Hiroyuki Fujita (Jpn) 75 76, Ben Curtis (USA) 77 74, Brian Davis 75 76

152Mark O'Meara (USA) 76 76, KT Kim (Kor) 75 77, Bob Estes (USA) 74 78

153Adam Wootton 71 82, Andrew Johnston 74 79, Jerry Kelly (USA) 74 79, Prayad Marksaeng (Tha) 76 77, Rhys Davies 75 78, Francis McGuirk 77 76

154Andy Smith 81 73, Alvaro Quiros (Esp) 75 79, Ryo Ishikawa (Jpn) 74 80

155David Duval (USA) 78 77

155Hiroo Kawai (Jpn) 75 80

156Todd Hamilton (USA) 77 79

157Markus Brier (Aut) 77 80

161Simon Edwards (USA) 82 79

169Craig Hinton (am) 82 87

WD:76 Retief Goosen (Rsa)

Third Round draw
8:55Matthew Millar
9:05Paul Lawrie, Gregory Bourdy
9:15Paul Casey, KJ Choi
9:25Ryan Moore, Gary Woodland
9:35Simon Khan, Gregory Havret
9:45Floris De Vries, Fredrik Andersson Hed
9:55Henrik Stenson, Edoardo Molinari
10:05Peter Uihlein, Bill Haas
10:20Bo Van Pelt, Jung-Gon Hwang
10:30Ricky Barnes, Tom Watson
10:40Louis Oosthuizen, Jim Furyk
10:50Justin Rose, Trevor Immelman
11:00Joost Luiten, Mark Wilson
11:10Kenneth Ferrie, Harrison Frazar
11:20Richard McEvoy, Seung-Yul Noh
11:35Stewart Cink, Stephen Gallacher
11:45Gary Boyd, Robert Allenby
11:55Bubba Watson, Jason Day
12:05Charles Howell III, Rory Sabbatini
12:15Richard Green, Raphael Jacquelin
12:25Spencer Levin, Sergio Garcia
12:35Rickie Fowler, Rory McIlroy
12:50Yuta Ikeda, Simon Dyson
13:00Fredrik Jacobson, Robert Rock
13:10Webb Simpson, Steve Stricker
13:20Zach Johnson, YE Yang
13:30Anthony Kim, Kyle Stanley
13:40Ryan Palmer, Jeff Overton
13:50Tom Lewis, Phil Mickelson
14:05Adam Scott, Anders Hansen
14:15Dustin Johnson, George Coetzee
14:25Tom Lehman, Davis Love III
14:35Charl Schwartzel, Pablo Larrazabal
14:45Miguel Angel Jimenez, Thomas Bjorn
14:55Martin Kaymer, Chad Campbell
15:05Lucas Glover, Darren Clarke