Shane Lowry believes he is ready to take whatever is thrown at him “on the chin” after keeping his bid for a second Open title firmly on track at Royal Troon.

Lowry added a second round of 69 to his opening 66 for a halfway total of seven under par and two-shot lead over English duo Justin Rose and Dan Brown, who both came through 36-hole final qualifiers earlier this month.

Lowry felt he had “done the hard part” on the 11th by getting his tee shot in play, but was distracted by a cameraman on his second shot and pulled it into the gorse.

After taking a penalty drop Lowry hit his fourth shot to around 10 feet to give himself a chance to salvage a bogey, only for his original ball to be found by a spectator.

That meant it was still in play and, after a long delay while it was determined where he could best take a drop, Lowry hit his approach just short of the green and eventually completed a double-bogey six.

Former Ryder Cup player David Howell, the on-course commentator with Lowry’s group for Sky Sports, said the spectator who found the ball was “being a little sheepish” when he realised Lowry’s intentions, adding: “He’s feeling awful.”

“I hit a great provisional,” Lowry explained. “The referee asked me going down (the fairway) did I want to find my first one, and I said no. So I assumed that was OK.

“Then we get down there and somebody had found it, so apparently you have to go and identify it. I felt through that whole process of that 20 minutes of seeing where I could drop I was very calm and composed and really knew that I was doing the right thing.

“And Darren (Reynolds, his caddie) did a great job too. He kept telling me we have loads of time, we don’t need to rush this.

“To be honest, I was happy enough leaving there with a six. It wasn’t a disaster. I have felt quite calm and composed the last couple of days. I’ve felt really in my comfort zone.

“Sometimes you are in a frame of mind where you get on with it better than other times. This week in my head feels like that, where I think I’m ready to take what comes, take what’s given to me out there.

“Anything that’s thrown at me, I feel like I’m ready to take it on the chin and move on. If I give myself a chance on Sunday I know I can do it and that’s as good as a position to be in as any.”

Here’s how the top of the leaderboard looks after two rounds of The Open. Lowry leads, but just look at the star-studded chasing pack ready to pounce if he falters. Moving day will be fascinating.

Shane Lowry, Ireland;66-69;-7

Daniel Brown, England;65-72;-5

Justin Rose, England;69-68;-5

Dean Burmester, South Africa;71-69;-2

Billy Horschel, United States;72-68;-2

Scottie Scheffler, United States;70-70;-2

Patrick Cantlay, United States;73-68;-1

Corey Conners, Canada;71-70;-1

Jason Day, Australia;73-68;-1

Xander Schauffele, United States;69-72;-1

Matthew Jordan, England;71-71;E

Joaquin Niemann, Chile;71-71;E

Mackenzie Hughes, Canada;69-74;+1

Dustin Johnson, United States;74-69;+1

Brooks Koepka, United States;70-73;+1

Collin Morikawa, United States;73-70;+1

Jon Rahm, Spain;73-70;+1