Only four men have successfully defended their Open Championship crowns in the past 50 years: Arnold Palmer, Lee Trevino, Tom Watson and Tiger Woods. Padraig Harrington, the 2007 champion, has given himself a fighting chance of joining that elite club as the Open prepares for its final two rounds, starting today.

Harrington, who has been struggling with a wrist injury, completed a brilliant two-under-par 68 yesterday, a performance full of character, given the windswept conditions, which left him firmly in the hunt. The Irishman, having birdied the 2nd hole before bogeying the monstrous 6th, had to rally from successive dropped shots on the 10th and 11th to come home in 34 for an exceptional recovery.

The high point of Harrington's fightback was a 25-foot eagle putt on the 17th, followed by a birdie on the 18th, which dragged him back in among the chasing pack on two over par. The holder is nicely poised for a weekend assault on the leader. “I'm delighted - I'm three shots behind with 36 holes to go, so I feel I'm well in there,” Harrington said. “There was a point when, after playing quite steadily, suddenly I was dropping shots on the back nine and starting to worry about the cut. I really wanted to get the chance of another 36 holes and my birdie on 15 gave me that confidence.

“I was patient and I stuck with my game. Even when I dropped those shots, I stayed with it. You've got to be patient and wait for your chances to come. And to finish three-under for the last four holes was obviously a huge boost for me. It meant I finished on a high.”

And what of Jean van de Velde? Since he infamously chose to go paddling on the Angus coast in Scotland nine years ago, the Frenchman surely needs no introduction. Yet the occasionally comic Van de Velde has a rare talent to go with his eccentricities, as he proved again yesterday. He recorded one of the best rounds of the day - a 71 - to place himself only a handful of strokes off the lead at the halfway stage. Ordinarily, a 71 would seem an unexceptional score in an Open, although not this week at Royal Birkdale, where many of golf's assumptions are being turned on their head.

Yesterday the strong winds kept up, leaving a bedraggled troupe of golfers trying to preserve their self-respect out on the course. Van de Velde, however, prevailed in the wind, despite a manic round that included three birdies and two double-bogeys. It did not seem bad for a player who has been dogged by ill-health and who is playing only because of a last-gasp qualifying success at the nearby Hillside course last week.

“I'm very happy - if it hadn't been for a number of blemishes I'd be under par,” Van de Velde said. The Frenchman then added: “I'm one of the lucky ones. I love golf, it is a fantastic game, but still just a game.

“I carry that thought around with me on the course big time. Coming up the 18th you would not believe the pain I had in my leg, but that's nothing. I'm here and lots of [other players] are not.”

Not quite so happy was Colin Montgomerie, who began the day three off the lead but was last seen going down the leaderboard after some eventful experiences. At the turn, Montgomerie had plummeted to eight over par and appeared to be wearing a thunderous face, having doublebogeyed the 2nd and the 6th - where he slashed and missed the ball in long grass and was forced to take a penalty drop - and triple-bogeyed the 5th. For the Scot, it is going to be a long way back.