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It is developing into a marvellous tournament for Murphy, who is enjoying the experience enormously. Typical of his buoyant mood was his reaction at seeing himself on top of the leader board after an eagle three at the long 16th had brought him to four under par.

"I didn't feel at all nervous, seeing myself up there," he said. Then he added with a smile: "But maybe Bernhard was."

The 23 year old has putted most impressively over the last two days, but his prominent position also owes much to a delightfully fluid swing which was much admired during a sparkling amateur career. Indeed his 34 for the back nine - he started on the 10th - held considerable merit, given that he was on the 17th tee when play was suspended.

"I waited there for half an hour before learning there was a further delay," he said. "So, I spent the next 20 minutes in the players' lounge." The critical nature of that delay can be gauged from the fact that it came just after Murphy had eagled the long 16th, where he hit a glorious one iron of 222 yards to nine feet from the flag.

But when play resumed, he pulled a five iron wide of the island green at the 17th to run up a bogey. He also bogeyed the third, his 12th, where he was hunkered off the tee. And the next, where a six iron approach came up short of the target.

When confronted with the prospect of seeing the round slip away from him, however, the Kilkenny player remained calm, even to the point of sinking putts of nine feet and eight feet to save par at the fifth and sixth holes. And there was no weakening of his resolve over the closing two holes.

"I feel a bit shattered it's nice to make the cut and get paid for a change," he said afterwards. "Funnily enough, the pressure is off now. I intend to go out and enjoy the experience from here on.

But Montgomerie will be a formidable rival. After a typically solid outward journey of nine straight pars, he began to turn on the heat. A 10 footer found the target for a birdie at the 10th, and he then reduced the 522 yard 11th to two drivers and two putts from 40 feet. And he made it three in a row with an eight iron to four feet at the 174 yard 12th.

Then the storm came and the Scot thought of the seven he had made on the 13th the previous day. "When I eventually got to play the hole, I was delighted to make the fairway," he said.

And there was almost as much merit in the only bogey of his round which came at the 15th, where he smothered an attempted cut with a three iron into the water. Much of the damage was repaired by a wonderful putt of 20 feet for a five.

"This course suits me," he said. Given the consistency of his play, it would be impossible to argue the point.