For the man who loves golf, it was the perfect day. In his accommodation close by the course, Des Smyth followed the morning's play on television, then, from a start just before midday, he proceeded to card a career-best 65 in the British Open Championship.

Indeed it was a fine day for the Irish. Pβdraig Harrington recovered from the brink of failure with a second round of 66 and Darren Clarke remained upbeat despite late slips en route to a 69. But Paul McGinley was crushed when three successive back-nine bogeys knocked him from a challenging position to a disappointing 72.

Clarke was five under par for the championship when he proceeded to run up bogeys at the 15th, where he missed the green, and the 16th, which he three-putted.

"I made a couple of mistakes but if I keep playing the way I am, I'm still in it," he said. "Still, I'd like to see it blow a bit tomorrow."

Meanwhile, British Amateur champion Michael Hoey departed the scene after a 76 for 149. By his own admission, the round of his young life - a 64 in the Scottish Open at Loch Lomond last Sunday - had taken its emotional toll.

When Christy O'Connor Snr was 48, he made his last significant challenge in this championship, finishing in a share of seventh place behind Tom Weiskopf at Troon in 1973. At the same age, Smyth is displaying similarly enduring skills .

But it's his attitude which captures the imagination. "I'm driven by the fear-factor," he said with a grin. "I'm looking at all these young guys who are thinking 'we'll blow this has-been out of the tournament.' And I know they're better than me, but I'm going to fight them anyway."

And in a golfing sense, Smyth is a consummate fighter, as he proved by capturing the Madeira Island Open earlier this year, to become the oldest winner in the history of the European Tour. "I get great fun out of golf and I've discovered that there's nothing to be afraid of," he said. "There's no embarrassment in playing badly. It's a tough game." He's familiar with golf's cruel side from his experience here in 1996 when he was disqualified after signing for a three on the 18th in his second round, when he had taken four.

But there is also the memory of a marvellous Open challenge at Troon in 1982, when he challenged strongly for the title, before eventually finishing fourth behind Tom Watson.

Yesterday's score was all the more admirable for the fact it followed a miserable 74 on Thursday. And he had to recover from a three-putt bogey at the first. From there, however, he proceeded to cover the next 12 holes in seven under par, despite another bogey at the third.

He got down to the serious business of survival with a two-putt birdie at the long sixth. Then came an eagle at the 557-yard seventh which he reduced to a drive, four iron and an outrageous, 60-foot putt. Indeed the trusty broomhandle continued to deliver magic with 12-footers finding the target for birdies at the ninth and 10th while he recovered stiff from a greenside bunker to beat par again at the next.

Perhaps the most impressive aspect of the round, however, was his play of the treacherous last four holes after he had birdied the 14th. Smyth made a majestic par at the 467-yard 17th, where he got up and down from a most testing position in a greenside bunker.

"This is probably one of the best rounds of my life," he said. "It tells me I can win again some day."

Harrington was in a similar position after a grim, opening 75 on Thursday. In attempting to rectify the problem, he concluded that the problem lay with his handling of a left-to-right wind which was causing him to come over the ball.

So he went to the practice ground on the nearby Fairhaven course that evening. There he chose a position where he would be hitting into a right-to-left wind, found something in his swing and approached the second round with restored confidence.

It allowed him to scorch the outward journey in 31 - four under par - with a birdie at the first, where he holed a 12-footer and three-in-a-row from the fifth. And another two birdies came at the 10th (40-foot putt) and long 11th before his only blemish came at the 15th, where he drove into sand.

"My objective was to attack from the start, and those early birdies set the mood," he said afterwards. "This was a really pleasing performance, mainly because of the way I putted. I got the ball running at the hole on every green and though the only long putt I holed was at the 10th , I missed nothing."

Like Smyth, this was Harrington's lowest round in five Open appearances, even though he was tied fifth behind Justin Leonard at Troon in 1997.

A birdie at the long 11th, where he sank a 15-foot putt, left McGinley five under par for the championship. But he then paid a huge price for lapses in concentration. A bunkered second cost him a bogey at the 15th; he three-putted the next to drop another stroke and at the 17th, he drove into a trap for his third bogey in a row. "I fell asleep and Lytham got me," he said.