The Open Round 2 Leaderboard: Scottie Scheffler races to the front at Royal Portrush

Aberg E, Hovland -1, Spieth E (3)

The trio of Jordan Spieth, Ludwig Aberg and Viktor Hovland slogged their way around yesterday with varying degrees of success, but they've started today in white-hot fashion.

After all scoring birdies at 2, they repeat the feat at the 3rd. All are now even par or better.

Fowler -2

I said yesterday how much I'd personally enjoy the prospect of a serious Rickie Fowler Open run, and for now he remains right up there. He hits one of the shots of the day so far to leave himself a three-foot birdie putt at the13th and move 2-under.

He's now one of 35 players within two shots of the lead. The real question is who's going to stage a breakaway.

Rose -3 (3)

After coming agonisingly close to birdie on the scoreable second, Justin Rose follows up nicely with a long putt for birdie on the 3rd.

Meanwhile, Rory sends yet another drive askew, his ball coming to rest in the extremely thick stuff just a few feet in-bounds. He's forced to declare an unplayable lie. That's two fairways he's hit so far this week out of a possible 16. Insane.

Hatton -3 (3), McIlroy -2, Fleetwood +1 (1)

A strong start for the local favourites here this morning.

Tyrrell Hatton, who looks in fine fettle this morning, sinks a short putt at the 3rd for birdie to go four-under and join the share of the lead.

A couple of holes behind, McIlroy drains a 15-footer to birdie the 1st. Fleetwood joins him in Birdietown directly after. Both now approach the par 5 second, which presented a lot of eagle opportunities yesterday.

McIlroy -1, Fleetwood +2, Thomas +1

Rory McIlroy emerges back onto the tee to rapturous applause, having endured an up-and-down round on the way to a 1-under scorecard yesterday.

He opens his day with what's becoming a bit of a bugbear for him this tournament: a squirty low draw that misses the fairway to the left.

It rests in the first cut and is by no means disastrous, but he's going to have to start finding some fairways to remain in contention.

DeChambeau +7 (1)

We've just published a story on the ultra-straight, illegal ball Bryson had in the practice bag on Wednesday. 

It probably would have done him some good yesterday as he laboured to a +7 78, already basically putting him out of contention for the Claret Jug.

He makes a steadier start this morning, however, opening his second round with a routine par.

Harman -3 (1)

Harman has just popped in a birdie on the par-4 1st to move to 3-under par. 

The lefty is looking to win a second Open title in the last three years having won at Royal Liverpool in 2023. 

Harman is also looking to put in a big performance this week in order to boost his Ryder Cup hopes.

Leishman -3 (12)

It's a fifth birdie of the day for Leishman, who has vaulted to 3-under par. 

Leishman two putts for an easy birdie on the par-5 12th.

Bradley -1 (4)

US Ryder Cup captain Bradley has moved into the red with an eagle on the par-5 2nd.

He's up to 1-under par as he goes in search of a first Open title. 

Bradley has been playing some fantastic golf on the PGA Tour lately, highlighted by his recent win at the Travelers Championship where he pipped Fleetwood to the post. 

He has a big headache as to whether he plays on the team this September, or just remains as captain. 

Leishman -2 (11)

Leishman is taking it low on Friday. 

He's now 4-under for the round and to 2-under for the championship. 

No slow play, no problem. 

R.Hojgaard -3 (3)

Rasmus enters the picture with a birdie on the 2nd to push himself up to 3-under par and one back.

He's just parred the 3rd. 

Leishman -1 (9)

It's a third birdie of the opening nine for Leishman, who is now in the red for the tournament.

Not frustrated by slow play since he's out in the first group of the day, and it's showing in his performance.

Leishman came closest to winning his first major at the 2015 Open at St Andrews when losing out to Zach Johnson in a playoff. 

Fang (a) +1 (6)

It's a brilliant start for American amateur Ethan Fang, who has fired out the gates early with birdies at 2, 3 and 5.

Fang, playing in his first major at The Open after having won The Amateur Championship, is now up to 1-over par and very much inside the cut mark. 

The top 70 and ties make it through to the weekend and Fang currently finds himself in T42. 

Fang has the low round of the day in progress on the course alongside England's Dan Brown at the moment. 

Brown, who won his second DP World Tour title with an emotional victory at the BMW International Open earlier this month, is 3-under for the round thru seven holes and up to 2-over par.

Leishman Par (8)

LIV Golf's Leishman moaned about slow play during the first round.

He was right to do as well given rounds were taking close to six hours. 

But the Aussie is out in the first group of the second round, and so nobody is in front of him to slow him down. 

It's showing too, as Leishman has tucked away two early birdies on both par-5s at 2 and 7 to move back to level par, and just four off the lead. 

Fowler -2 (5)

It's a bounce back birdie for Fowler, who drives the green at the short par-4 5th.

He two-putts for birdie. 

Fowler two back. 

Fowler -1, Garcia Par (4)

Garcia fell out the blocks with a double on the 1st but he recovered one shot back with a birdie at the par-5 2nd.

The Spaniard, who needs to show something this week in order to force the hand of European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald come deadline day for picks at the end of August, finds himself at level par and just inside the top 30 as it stands.

Fowler has also lost ground in the early stages of the second round with a bogey on the par-3 3rd. 

The popular American is still in the red though at 1-under par, which is T19 right now. 

Welcome to second round updates from the 153rd Open here at Royal Portrush in Country Antrim, Northern Ireland. 

McIlroy gets his second round underway with Fleetwood and Thomas just after 10am.

Scheffler is off later in the day alongside Lowry and Morikawa. 

The top 70 players and ties make the cut for the weekend at The Open. 

Here's a look at Friday's second round tee times at the 153rd Open: