McIlroy seven behind sparkling Scheffler as Lowry's penalty blow leaves him ten behind

Scottie Scheffler of the United States looks across the 18th green during Day One of The 153rd Open Championship at Royal Portrush Golf Club on July 17, 2025 in Portrush, Northern Ireland. (Photo by Stuart Kerr/R&A/R&A via Getty Images)

Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry have their work cut out to capture The 153rd Open as world number one Scottie Scheffler carded a brilliant and bogey-free eight-under. 64 to claim a one-shot lead on 10-under at halfway.

After England’s Matt Fitzpatrick rolled in a 24 footer for par at the 18th for a five-under 66 to overtake Brian Harman and Haotong Li and lead on nine-under, Scheffler brushed in an 18 footer for a two at the 222-yard 16th, Calamity, and a 15 footer for another birdie at the 17th before leaving a 15 foot chance the lip at the 18th.

It was a golfing masterclass from the three-time major winner that left McIlroy seven strokes adrift after his morning 69 and a frustrated Lowry ten shots back on level par after he incurred a two-stroke penalty for causing his ball to move at the 12th and a par-five became a seven and what would have been a second successive 70 a one-over 72.

It was a bitter blow for Lowry, who followed a birdie two at the third with a run of seven pars before watching his drive head left into the rough during a rain shower at the 11th and grumbling “f**k this place” before going on to make a bogey five.

His ball then moved slightly after he took a practice swing on the 12th, possibly disturbed by a long blade of grass, and an official approached him on the 15th fairway.

He went on to birdied the 15th from 10 feet to get back to one-under for the day, but left a birdie chance on the lip at the 16th and missed a 10-foot chance at the 17th as Scheffler moved into top gear.

Lowry was informed of the issue by a rules official during his round, but his late penalty wasn’t imposed until afterwards, leaving him wondering coming down the stretch if he could miss the cut.

“Obviously, you want to know if you're on the cut mark,” he said. “But I went from feeling like, God, if I can make two or three birdies in the way in, I can push up that leaderboard

“Then all of a sudden, I'm playing 16, 17, 18, feeling like I'm on the cut mark. I was very happy to birdie 15, like that was a big birdie for me after what happened. But, yeah, I’m just going to have to take it as a bad break and move on.”

McIlroy was pleased to make up for 2019 and make the cut with ease at three under after a 69 he felt might have been a few shots lower, having hit seven fairways compared to two on Thursday.

“It was a good day,”  McIlroy said. “I feel like I maybe could be a couple closer to the lead, but overall, you know, in a decent position.”

While he appeared to get into a rhythm over the closing holes, picking up birdies at the 12th and 14th, McIlroy’s front nine was an erratic mixture.

He birdied the first from 18 feet and did brilliantly to make a par-five at the second, where he had to take a penalty drop from deep rough down the right, but got his third to within 50 yards of the green and resolved the situation with a pitch and putt.

He bogeyed the third when his tee shot rolled back to the edge of a bunker and his stance was impeded. But while he replied by reducing the tough fourth to a 348-yard drive and a short iron to six feet, he bogeyed the driveable fifth when he bunkered his tee shot.

“I've been somewhat close to my best over the first two days in little bits here and there,” McIlroy said. “I’m going to need to have it all under control and have it sort of all firing over the weekend to make a run.

“This golf course is very demanding. It's really intimidating off the tee. I think you see the bunched nature of the leaderboard.

“It’s one of these places where you know the holes where you have to make par, you know the holes you have to make birdie, and everyone has to play the golf course the same way.

“For the most part, you're just trying to pick off your birdies on the easy holes, and honestly, hold on with some of these really tough par fours.”

He was still delighted to consign his 2019 missed cut to history and give himself a chance over the weekend.

“I think I let myself down more than I let the fans down,” he said of six years ago.“This time I think I've just gotten better. I know what I need to do to get the best out of myself in an environment like that.

“It was 20 years ago that I played the North of Ireland here, and never in my wildest dreams did I think that I'd be coming back as a Grand Slam champion with the support of a nation behind me trying to win an Open Championship.

“So I count myself very grateful and very lucky that I'm in this position, and I'm excited.”

Tom McKibbin played alongside Pádraig Harrington and while he will take confidence from having to hit in the first group of the championship, he was frustrated to miss his first cut in a major after adding a 73 to his opening 72

“I think that's what's probably most annoying,” said the Newtownabbey. man, who double-bogeyed the eighth after flying through the green into deep rough. “This is probably the best I've played out of them all.

“Just so many like stupid errors, just pins at the back of the green, hitting over the green. It's just where there's nothing really wrong with the shot. So I think that's what's a little bit frustrating.”

Darren Clarke finished on six over after a 73, while Harrington also missed the cut on nine over after a 76.

The Dubliner was facing an uphill task after an opening 75 and his hopes were dashed early when his putt from short of the par-three third trickled off a subtle downslope near the pin and off the green, leading to a triple bogey six.

“My putt caught a gust of wind and missed low around four or five feet and then it caught another gust and it was off the green,” said Harrington, who plays next week’s Senior Open at Sunningdale. “It was not the start I needed.

“I struggled to make birdies the two days.I birdied the first hole, but all my other birdies were on par-fives or 17, where I drove to the edge of the green.

“I never had to pace the greens. I left everything short.”

The opening tee shot and that birdie is all he’ll remember fondly.

“Just a nice first hole, that’s it,”  he said. “It's all I remember from this. You know it's nice when you feel nervous, under the pressure that I hit two good shots.  Of all the putts this week, I thought that was coming up short, and it went in and everything else came up short of the hole.”