America’s Scott Dunlap leads The Senior Open Presented by Rolex after carding a two under par second round at Royal Lytham & St Annes.
The 55-year-old started the day three under par, but dropped two strokes after a double bogey on the par four third hole. He recovered from that setback with consecutive birdies on the fourth and fifth holes before finishing his front nine one over par following a bogey on the seventh.
He made three birdies in his first five holes on the back nine and finished his round with his sixth birdie of the day to reach five under par.
“I never played any of the regular Opens here, but I’ve played the golf course probably a half a dozen times and loved it,” said Dunlap. “So I really wanted to be here and see what it was like in tournament competition, and so far, so good.”
Dunlap is two strokes ahead of compatriots Doug Barron, Ken Duke and Wes Short Jr.
Three-time Senior Open Champion Bernhard Langer carded one of the lowest rounds of the morning groups, a three under par 67, as he moved to two under par and a share of fifth place alongside 2016 Champion Paul Broadhurst and two-time Senior Major winner Roger Chapman.
“It was a bit of an up-and-down round,” said Broadhurst. “I started off reasonable. Got it under par early on and thought, yeah, great start. Anything under par the first six holes, you've got to be happy, and we did that, and then started throwing them away. You know, the putter went cold and I lost the pace of the greens. From 30 feet, I was struggling to get it to the hole. That made it hard work.”
