Cameron Smith’s total of 131 (1st/-13) tied the fourth-lowest opening 36-hole score in Open Championship history and is the lowest in an Open at St. Andrews.
With a two-stroke lead over first-round leader Cameron Young, Smith holds the 36-hole lead/co-lead for the second time in a Major championship (2020 Masters/shared 36-hole lead with four others before finishing T2) and the fourth time in an individual stroke-play event on PGA TOUR (1-for-3).
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Making his 90th Major championship start, three-time Open Championship winner Tiger Woods missed cut for the fourth time in 22 starts at The Open; 153 is his highest 36-hole score at The Open and third-highest in a Major championship.
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Smith holds the 36-hole lead following rounds of 67-64.
He is hoping to join Jack Nicklaus (1978) as the only players to win THE PLAYERS Championship and The Open Championship in the same year.
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Finished T20 in 2019 for the best of his four prior Open Championship starts.
His best finishes in 24 previous Major championship starts came at the Masters Tournament (2020/T2, 2022/T3).
In addition to his win at TPC Sawgrass earlier this season, won the Sentry Tournament of Champions by one stroke over Jon Rahm, posting the most strokes under-par in a 72-hole event on TOUR (34-under).
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Young (2nd) posted 3-under 69 and fell two shots behind Smith in his debut Open Championship start, made cut for the second time in sixth Major appearances (T3/2022 PGA Championship).
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Rory McIlroy (T3) carded a second-round 4-under 68, his 48th round of 68 or better in Major championships (most since 2007); since his win at the 2014 PGA Championship, has accumulated 16 top-10s in Majors, the most of any player in that span; is in search of his fifth Major championship victory.
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Viktor Hovland (T3) holed out for eagle from 138 yards on the par-4 15th hole, his first eagle in six rounds at The Open; holds his best 36-hole position in a Major championship (previous-best: T17 at the 2020 U.S. Open and 2021 Masters Tournament).
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World No. 1 and FedExCup leader Scottie Scheffler (T6) posted his second consecutive 68 and trails by five; marked the 16th time in the last 19 Major championship rounds he has been inside the top 10 on the leaderboard; is attempting to join 10 players (17 instances) who have won five or more times in a season with multiple Majors (most recently Jordan Spieth in 2014-15).
Genesis Scottish Open champion Xander Schauffele (T18) posted rounds of 69-70 and trails by eight in bid to become the first player to win on the PGA TOUR and win a Major the following week since Rory McIlroy in 2014 (WGC Bridgestone Invitational, PGA Championship)
Collin Morikawa becomes the first defending champion to miss cut at The Open since Darren Clarke in 2012; the last player to successfully defend at The Open was Padraig Harrington in 2008.
All four past champions at St. Andrews missed cut: Zach Johnson, Louis Oosthuizen, Tiger Woods and John Daly.
Four of six amateurs in the field made the cut: Barclay Brown, Filippo Celli, Sam Bairstow and Aaron Jarvis.
