The Irishman followed an opening-round 66 - the best start of his major career - with a two-under 69 on Friday morning to move to seven under and bolster his hopes of a second Open victory, five years on from his impressive breakthrough success at Royal Troon.

Lowry's closest challenge comes from former world No 1 Justin Rose and fellow Englishman Dan Brown, who led after the opening round of his major debut, while world No 1 Scottie Scheffler is within five of the lead and in tied-fourth as he chases a seventh win in 11 starts.

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"Anything that's thrown at me, I feel like I'm ready to take it on the chin and move on," Lowry said. "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."

Strong winds sent scores soaring for the majority of the field, with McIlroy's major drought extending into another season after a second-round 75 left him heading home early on 11 over and Woods missing the cut for a third successive event.

How Lowry grabbed halfway lead

Lowry started the day a shot behind Brown but immediately pulled level with Brown by rolling in from 10 feet at the first, then responded to missing a birdie chance from a similar distance at the third by firing a wedge to tap-in range to take advantage of the par-five next.

He failed to get up and down from the sand at the par-three fifth but birdied the Postage Stamp to reach the turn two ahead, which remained his cushion until he racked up a double-bogey at the 11th after pulling his approach into an unplayable lie in a gorse bush.

Lowry ended a run of pars by two-putting from long range to birdie the par-five 16th, before capping off an impressive round by draining a 20-footer at the last to secure a 36-hole major lead for the first time in his career.

Brown was within one of the lead until a penultimate-hole bogey dropped him back to five under, while Rose was the standout performer in the afternoon wave and is also tied-second after mixing four birdies with a lone dropped shot in the worst of the conditions.

Horschel matched Rose's 68 to leave him on two under with Dean Burmester and Scottie Scheffler, who was within four of the lead until a closing bogey dropped him back to a share of fourth, while Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele - Woods' playing partners - sit in tied-seventh alongside Corey Conners and Jason Day.

Joaquin Niemann recovered from a quintuple-bogey at the par-three eighth to salvage a 71, keeping him at level par, while former major champions Jon Rahm, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka and Collin Morikawa all head into the weekend on one over.

Big names make early exits at Royal Troon

Last week's Genesis Scottish Open champion Robert MacIntyre recovered from being eight over after four holes to salvage a four-over 75 and get back to five over, although tough conditions saw seven of the world's top 12 miss the cut.

Reigning US Open champion Bryson DeChambeau and Sweden's Ludvig Aberg fell to nine over and world No 5 Wyndham Clark also exited after a second-round 80, while McIlroy's bid for an elusive fifth major continues after a nightmare start to his Friday.

McIlroy's hopes of progressing were halted by a triple-bogey at the par-five fourth, with the 2014 Open champion admitting that conditions got the better of him after missing the cut by five shots despite two birdies in his last holes.

Viktor Hovland, Sahith Theegala and Tommy Fleetwood also failed to reach the weekend, while Woods' major season is over after registering just one birdie in a six-over 77.

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