SO WRETCHED is the weather forecast for the next two days, this 140th Open Championship will turn into as much a mental marathon as a technical examination.

Perhaps that is why Darren Clarke, one of the halfway pacesetters, has been using not just one sports psychologist here but two.

As crazy as it may sound, Clarke's unprecedented move is thus far leaving the majority of his rivals on the couch. Far from being in two minds, with two different shrinks barking their orders, the 42-year-old has rarely seemed so at ease and single-minded in his purpose. Dr Bob Rotella and Mike Finnigan are the gurus and Clarke has had sessions with both in his effort to land that overdue first major.

Dr Bob also works with McIlroy and would have been pleased with the manner in which the US Open champion responded to the challenge. Going out in the worst of the conditions, the 22-year-old fired a 69 to haul himself back to level par. McIlroy came into this major declaring he would be content with two 70s and here he is. Yet McIlroy has not totally convinced this week. There were times yesterday when he seemed about to storm into vision on the scoreboards but each time a bogey arrived. Three in all. There was a brilliant sand save on the last, however, and it will be so intriguing to see how he copes in the upcoming carnage. But within four of the lead he still has a favourite's chance of becoming the first debutant major winner to follow up in his very next major.

Clarke, his friend and sometime mentor, piled all the praise on Rotella, “an old friend who has helped me think more clearly on the greens”. As the field bunched up yesterday it was all too forgivable to weigh up such imponderables. There was Tom Watson's hole-in-one on the sixth to make the galleries reach apoplexy. At 61, he became the oldest man in the 151-year history of the Championship to make the cut on two over.

SEVERE

This links is tough and it's about to go way past severe. “I've heard what's coming and I don't want to think about it,” said Adam Scott after a 70 left him three of the lead. Winds of 35mph-plus are predicted and they shall come loaded with rain. Birdies were hard to come by yesterday; scrambling was the order of the second round. This particularly applied in the afternoon when the breezes rose and the course dried. A few of the pin placements were on the edges of slopes and the wind had switched to the prevailing south, which meant the layout played exactly as it was intended – difficult.

But there were birdies out there, as Clarke proved when moving to fourunder to share the lead with Lucas Glover. It was a frenetic display by the Ulsterman. Five birdies, an eagle, three bogeys, a double bogey and seven pars – consistent it was not. Yet through it all the big man smiled, refusing to allow himself to get too down. Impressive stuff. Glover's no mug though. The 2009 US Open champion was the pre-tournament pick of quite a few “experts” on the range. “I've become more comfortable on the links,” said Glover. In a tie for third is a large group containing the overnight joint-leader, Thomas Bjorn, the American Chad Campbell, the Spaniard Miguel Angel Jimenez and the German Martin Kaymer.

The last-named is, of course, the most ominous figure near the top of the leader board. “I am confident,” he said after a 69 appended so cosily to a 68. “I am striking it well and that will be important when it's very windy If the weather comes then it'll be a battle. And I'm ready for it.” A daunting statement, but with so many players - 60-plus - within seven of the lead, the champion could be lurking down with the supposed also-rans. This truly could be the wide open Open. That means Tom Lewis still boasts an unlikely opportunity.

The 20-year-old - who, with his first round 65, became the youngest amateur to lead The Open in 43 years - was disappointed with his 74, but at one-under it hardly constituted a disaster. “I would have taken being in this position at the start,” said Lewis. Too damn right he would. Most players in the field would take being in touch with such a lottery feel to proceedings. But then Lee Westwood stormed out, Colin Montgomerie-style, after a 73 dropped him to four over and Graeme McDowell turned the spotlight within, blaming his own attitude for a 72 which left him stranded on five-over. There were some big names licking wounds, but so many in the hunt for the weekend masses to roar.

If they can be heard above the din of the wind and rain, that is. Not to mention all the howling and wailing. Psychologists will be at a premium.