When making picks for the Open it’s always tempting to favor players who grew up playing links golf. Over the last ten editions, though, that would have been quite a losing proposition, with only reigning Zurich Classic champions Shane Lowry and Rory McIlroy meeting the criteria, give or take your opinion on how much crossover there is with Cam Smith’s Australian sandbelt experience. As this Open heads to the weekend, though, the leaderboard suggests that there’s at least a strong chance to add another name to that list.

Or maybe repeating a name. Shane Lowry leads by two strokes, finding himself in the lead once again at the tournament he won in 2019. Back then, Lowry shared the Friday night lead with J.B. Holmes, then held a solo lead on Saturday before pulling even farther away on Sunday. Lowry was on the right end of the wave split this week, but so was half the field and they’re not sitting at -7 heading into the weekend. Lowry managed that despite needing to recover from a nearly lost ball (one he would have preferred to be lost) on the 11th, part of a near-disaster that eventually led to a double. That was the only real shaky moment, though, and Lowry is positioned to contend once again.

Joining Lowry in the final group on Saturday will be Englishman Dan Brown. Brown, who if he’s aware of all the Dan Brown author jokes being made about him must be tired of them by now, backed up his Thursday 66 with a Friday 72. This will be by far the biggest opportunity of his career. Playing in the final group on the weekend at your first ever major championship has to be a wild feeling, but Brown has a real chance here. He’s two back of Lowry, and it feels like we’ll know early on in tomorrow’s round whether Brown has staying power. Inexperience isn’t always bad, and he seemed to have the right perspective after the round. But sleeping on it and coming out strong tomorrow will be a different challenge altogether.

And then there’s Justin Rose, also two shots behind Lowry, tied with Brown. Rose was on the wrong side of the draw this week, making his Friday afternoon round of 68 wildly impressive. (Joseph has more on the draw effect and Rose’s round in particular here.) Rose, of course, famously made his major debut as low amateur at the Open in 1998, before struggling to get his pro career off the launchpad. After that time in the wilderness, though, he’s proven to be one of the more consistent major performers, winning the 2013 U.S. Open, reaching No. 1 in the world, and otherwise compiling a Hall of Fame-worthy career. He’s been up and down in 2024 at the biggest events, finishing T-6 at Valhalla to go along with missed cuts at the Masters and U.S. Open. But the golf he played in the tougher elements on Friday was rousing, especially a long birdie to close at 18 that fired up the crowd.

Most inspiring, though, is that Rose is playing this Open via qualifier. In an era when some of the biggest names in the sport were content to take guaranteed money and then complain about not receiving handout invites to majors, Rose simply went about his business, played his way in despite having a laundry list of career accomplishments, and is capitalizing by playing his ass off. He has a real shot to win his second major, and it’s hard not to pull for him.

For more coverage of the Open Championship, visit the Fried Egg Golf Open Championship hub here.