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Friday, early afternoon - American Steve Marino blew out of the water all of Thursday's theories about experience being the key to links golf.

The 29-year-old from Florida soared to the top of the leaderboard with a second-round 68 as five-time Open champion Tom Watson struggled and 2003 winner Ben Curtis suffered an horrendous 10-over round of 80.

But not only is this Marino's first ever visit to Britain, today represents only his fourth round of links golf ever. That's two practice rounds and now two tournament rounds.

Marino - no relation to - was the second reserve for the tournament and found out that he was in for Shingo Katayama at the John Deere Classic in Illinois on Sunday morning.

"I didn't have any warm clothes, he said. "I didn't have a passport. I had to fly my dad from Virginia to my house in Florida so he could get the passport and FedEx it to me.

"He left Friday morning and flew back Friday night.

"When I found out I got in, I was super excited."

Hacks like us love the "American golfer in Scotland" story - remember Well, all the usual questions came out.

"Have you tried driving on the other side of the road?"

"No, I think that's a bad idea, I'm not going to try that."

"How about the food?"

"The food's OK. I haven't tried , but I don't think I will. It doesn't look that great."

"What have you had?"

"Pasta, cheeseburger, steak. What is it, shepherd's pie? That was good."

Back to the golf, I think it was about the golf anyway, Marino added: "It can be an advantage to have experience, but it can be an advantage not to have experience."

Any significance in the fact that

Friday lunchtime - For today's Day in the Life snapshot, Mark Orlovac caught up with Euan Grant, manager.

Grant, who was the head greenkeeper for the Old Course at for the 2005 Open, describes his opening day of the 138th Open Championship.

"Alarm went at 0310 BST. We live on site so it was straight to work. Checked emails and the weather forecast before a chat with the greenkeepers on any last-minute decisions.
The team went out at to cut the greens and fairways, paint the holes and rake the bunkers.

"Followed behind to make sure the course was set up as I would like. The R&A came at 0500 to set the course up and my aim is that they have to do nothing. I was off just after nine.

"Sat down with the course and estates manager George Brown and our course owner's representative for around 20 minutes to discuss anything that came out of the morning set up.

"The set up is hard first thing in the morning and later on in the evening but during the day I am on call with the R&A rules radio in case of any issues.

"After lunch there was a call with one of the liners we use in the cups at the 6th but there wasn't a problem. The heart starts going a little when the call comes because you don't know was it is. You don't want anything to affect the play. It's about personal pride.

"Went out to watch a bit of golf in the afternoon and spoke to the rules officials on the course. Might have even closed my eyes at the desk for five minutes!

"Had the daily meeting with the R&A championship committee at 1630 and afterwards we checked the speed of a few greens. We started the course tidy up at 1830.

"The team rolled over any stud marks, repaired the greens and also cleared the crossing points. We came off the course at around 2200, tidied the sheds and made sure everything was charged ready for the next day. Checked my emails and the weather forecast before going to bed at 2300.

"There were no major hiccups yesterday. Tournament week is relatively easy for us. Touch wood. All the work is done in the lead up. As long as it does not rain heavily then we are OK.

"It is a long week and the older you get the harder it gets! But it is a wonderful opportunity to be working in greenkeeping. If you can't get excited about it then you are in the wrong job.

"It's the Open. The long hours fade into insignificance. It's fantastic."

Tip of the day

Friday morning - As a special treat we have a guest appearance from one of the great gurus of the game.

used to coach Tiger Woods, now works with Phil Mickelson and is ranked first in Golf Digest's 50 Greatest Teachers.

Here's his nugget for the average player to get a bit more out of his game:

"The most common fault among amateur players is that they don't take enough club. They always take the club that requires hitting it maximum distance to get there.

"My tip would be to take one club less and swing smoothly. Instead of hitting a full seven iron, take an easy six. That way you can control your ball flight and therefore length more easily."

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