Luke Donald is the man on the move in the second round of the 2012 Open after making three consecutive birdies to go two under par.
The world No 1, who carded a level-par 70 on the opening day, had a double bogey at the third hole but bounced back with three birdies in a row to move within four shots of overnight leader Adam Scott.
Donald, with stand-in caddy Gareth Lord on his bag as first-choice John McLaren’s wife is having a baby, is now a best price of 14/1 with
SportingBet for the Royal Lytham & St Annes title.
Tiger Woods, who does not tee off until 14:43 BST in the second round, is the 5/1 favourite with Scott 7/1, the Australian starting exactly an hour before the three-time former champion.
Rory McIlroy endured an up-and-down front nine that contained two birdies and two bogeys before a horror show at the ninth hole, where he took two shots to get out of a bunker.
His second attempt from the sand zipped 10 feet past the hole and the Northern Irishman missed the putt, which meant a double bogey that dropped him back to one under par for the tournament.
The bookmakers see it as a missed opportunity for the 2011 US Open champion as his odds with SportingBet have drifted to 18/1, with scoring proving easier on the front nine.
Paul Lawrie and Zach Johnson, who were second overnight one shot behind Scott, do not tee off until Friday afternoon but have been joined on five under by Brandt Snedeker of the United States.
Open 2012 latest leaderboard (number in brackets denotes holes of second round played):
-6 Adam Scott
-5 Brandt Snedeker (5)
-5 Zach Johnson
-5 Paul Lawrie
-3 Peter Hanson (6)
-3 Steve Stricker (6)
-3 Ernie Els
-3 Graeme McDowell
-3 Bubba Watson
-3 Tiger Woods
