AS early as his third shot of the day — having bludgeoned his first two straight into the rough — the shouts of “good luck David” from Americans in the gallery and “c’mon Dave” from Scouse aficianados had subsided, to be replaced by sympathetic applause.

By the 14th, when the sight of his ball lying in yet another bunker made him boot his golf bag clean out of his caddy’s hand, appalled silence surrounded him.

A photograph of his one-year-old son Brayden sucking on a dummy is taped to that bag, and it is supposed to bring David Duval perspective and calm. Usually it does. But DD was under serious pressure on a golf course once again.

After Duval carded a second successive 70 on Friday to lie four under, and in his best position at an Open since winning at Royal Lytham in 2001, he said, in that direct yet diffident way of his, he was fed up being asked about his “comeback”.

Such questions, he said, come from local media wherever he plays: the international golfing press stopped posing them because they appreciate he’s been returning to form for some time now. By that token, a 78 should be seen as just a bad round and not the sign of a significant relapse.

Though it was disappointing for the legion of loyal fans who want to see this strangely charismatic introvert return to the top of his sport, yesterday could have been much worse. With three holes to play, Duval hooked his drive so much he sailed over the rough and lay in a spectator path between the 16th and 17th fairways.

At nine over for the day, he was facing carnage to compete with the gruesome 84 he scored in his first round of this year’s Masters. But then something wonderful happened. With the gallery crowding solemnly round him like mourners above an open grave, Duval stood tall and smashed a long iron over two greenside bunkers to within

20 feet.

He putted in for an eagle. At the 17th, he recovered from another poor drive to get down in two for a par from off the green and, after finding rough off the tee yet again, he birdied the last. He walked to the clubhouse smiling and able to claim his recovery may have stalled, but it has not stopped.

Two over for the championship going into today is Duval’s best performance at a major in four years. Cerebral and sensitive, from the yellow wrist band he wears in support of cancer charities to his dreams of opening a bookstore, Duval does not need telling everything in life is relative.

A man who has plunged from No 1 in the world rankings to 210, who won $2.8m on the US Tour in his prime five years ago but only $7,630 last year, can take a 78. What his admirers like most about Duval is his dignity. Through his slump, through the days when his back was so bad he felt like crying and his morale so low he flirted with quitting his sport, he persevered, offering few excuses or complaints. And yesterday was about perseverance.

If Duval started badly it was not for want of determination but too much of it: his shots, like his giant drive at the seventh and pitch straight at the pin at the eighth — both of which landed in sand — were too aggressive. Luck wasn’t with him. Three times he found himself lying so badly in bunkers that he had to play out sideways — even having to do so into the rough because there was no other shot given his stance — on that bag-booting 14th.

Yet, for all his protestations that the corner has been turned, he is plainly not yet in full charge of his game. The bunker visits told their own story: there were five of them, four off the tee. On Friday, buoyed by two rounds of accurate driving, Duval proclaimed “nobody hit the golf ball better all day” but yesterday 10 of his tee shots found the rough or a bunker. His irons were a mixed bag and, until those last three holes, he barely holed a putt. With his swinging arms, chin tucked into his chest and short legs, Duval has something of Homer Simpson’s gait. His was a round full of dohs and dont’s.

After walking off the par-three 15th, where another tee shot into sand and disappointing putt resulted in an eighth bogey of the day, Duval shambled past a tracksuited boy of about 12. “Hey Dave, give us yer ball,” said the lad. Duval tossed it in his direction but declined when the scally then asked to shake hands.

“Never mind, I’ve got your ball,” said the kid. Of those, David Duval has plenty and while that remains the case for all the downs like yesterday, there remains the chance we’ll see him back on the up.