Zach Johnson remained hopeful of defending his Open title despite a frustrating end to his second round at Royal Troon.
The two-time major winner climbed the leaderboard to seven under only to fall back to five under, just one better than where he began the second day, after bogeys on the 15th and 18th.
That left him five shots off the clubhouse lead set by fellow American and 2013 Open champion Phil Mickelson.
Johnson said: "I really had a great opportunity today to put a nice low number up but I feel like I gave a few back there at the end.
"I actually hit a good tee shot on 15 but still made a bogey. At 16 I was essentially trying to make a four but I barely made a five and 18 was bad too. Sour endings as far as where I put myself there.
"But there are certainly some positives. I feel like the best thing going for me right now is I haven't played my best yet and I can still go out and do that this weekend."
Source: PA
