The final pair were not due to begin their third rounds until 3pm, but play got under way in damp, calm conditions at 8:15am and after two hours the first 10 groups had recorded 30 birdies between them.

Five of those belonged to 2001 champion David Duval, who had birdied the 18th on Saturday to make his first cut in the Open since 2008 and carried on where he left off with birdies on the second, fifth, seventh and ninth.

A bogey on the 10th briefly slowed Duval’s charge, but the 43-year-old former world number one bounced back with a birdie on the 11th – the exposed par three which caused so many problems on Saturday – to get back to four under par.

Graeme McDowell was also moving up the leaderboard thanks to five birdies in the first seven holes, although the former US Open champion double-bogeyed the sixth to lie three under.

Duval spends more time commentating on golf than playing these days and is ranked 1,268th in the world, but further birdies on the 13th and 14th moved him to six under par and a share of 10th.

And England’s Ashley Chesters, one of five amateurs to make the cut, was just a shot behind after following birdies on the second and third with an eagle from 40 feet on the par-five fifth.

McDowell was another stroke back thanks to a birdie on the 11th, with playing partners Graeme De Laet and Jim Furyk also four under after 11 holes.