Rose still in hunt

Rose traded birdies for bogies over the front nine, taking four at every hole up to the turn then settled into a steady rhythm, picking up a shot at the tenth then parring his way through to the 18th tee.

When he played the last hole, the 20-year-golfer from Hook was still riding high in the top 20 at two under, but his fourth bogey of the day sent him back to the clubhouse one under for the championship but comfortably inside the half-way cut and certainly not out of it.

Rose began the second round in good heart, two under par and just four behind leader Colin Montgomerie.

Lytham is so frought with hazards that confidence is the key to success here, and the 20-year-old from Hook did well to bounce back from a niggling setback at the 206-yard par three first.

He three putted for only his second bogey of the championship, missing out from little over two feet.

A day after proclaiming that his putting stroke was better, it was something that he didn't need. But a good up and down from a greenside bunker at the second seemed to settle his nerves.

Lytham's early par threes demand length and accuracy and at the 212-yard fifth, Rose tripped again with a bogey four.

He was back to level par but with two par fives to come, he had the chance to repair the damage. And he did just that with a birdie at the sixth then followed suit at the seventh. When he parred eight and bogied the ninth, another par three, he was looking at a four on each of his outward holes.

So tight was the scoring that Rose was taking a roller-coaster ride up and down the leaderboard. He slipped back to joint 36th at one stage but when he birdied the 335-yard tenth to break his sequence of fours, he was up into a tie for 16th.

The back nine is the most dangerous half of the course but Rose showed his growing maturity with a run of seven pars before that last hiccup at the 18th.