Sandy Lyle suffering as rivals step up

Shropshire's Sandy Lyle was today heading for a missed Open cut – on the course where he was crowned champion 26 years ago.

Lyle carded a three-over-par 73 in yesterday's opening round at Royal St George's, bogeys on the last two holes undoing a steady afternoon's work.

And the Shrewsbury-born 1985 champion suffered further disappointment today as he found himself three over par for the first nine holes of his second round – and six over in total.

Amongst the early starters on day two, Lyle dropped successive shots at the fourth and fifth holes and, while a birdie at the par-five seventh boosted his hopes of making the cut, a double bogey at the eighth did further damage.

Elsewhere, American Lucas Glover moved into a share of the lead as the early starters looked to take advantage of perfect, sunny and still conditions.

Glover's round of 66 went largely unnoticed yesterday as Denmark's Thomas Bjorn and English amateur Tom Lewis grabbed the headlines.

Repaired

Glover, the 2009 US Open champion, soon made it a three-way tie with Bjorn and Lewis at the top of the leaderboard this morning, a birdie from four feet on the second taking him to five under par.

A dropped shot followed at the next but the American repaired that damage at the seventh.

Northern Ireland's Darren Clarke was also looking to make a move through the field and, after missing a birdie chance from eight feet on the first, had holed from twice that distance on the third.

That took Clarke, second at Troon in 1997 and third at Lytham in 2001, to three under par, the 42-year-old clearly benefiting from a recent session with mind guru Dr Bob Rotella.

More than 30 players ended day one within four of the lead, with US Open winner Rory McIlroy carding a one-over-par 71 alongside world No 1 Luke Donald and Lee Westwood.

But it was the end of the road for South African Retief Goosen who withdrew today with a back injury after an opening 76.