Joe Ogilvie enjoying first Open

American outsider Joe Ogilvie briefly had sole occupancy of the top of the British Open leaderboard on Friday when he reached seven-under par after 13 holes of his second round.

And although he had two late bogeys his three-under par 68 was another solid performance following Thursday's 69 for the 27-year-old making his Open debut.

Ogilvie earned his Open berth on last round countback as the eighth and last qualifier from the US PGA Tour's Western Open and grabbed the unexpected opportunity with both hands.

He started the day two-under and picked up five birdies without dropping a shot to edge ahead of Colin Montgomerie, who had led since early on the first day.

However, as with so many before him, he dropped a shot on the tough 15th. He missed from five feet for birdie on the 16th, dropped another on 17 and parred the last.

"It feels pretty good and I'm looking forward to the weekend," he said after joining Jesper Parnevik and Englishman Greg Owen as the clubhouse leaders on five-under.

"I played pretty well out there. The only thing you can do on this course is try to avoid the bunkers and I did that on all but two tee shots.

"It was all sort of how I expected but on a grander scale. I can't believe how many fans are out there, there's thousands at every hole, but it's a lot of fun."

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