The Open: Lucas Glover proves a bearded wonder as Americans charge into title contention

Sure, he said, there were the usual suspects, the Rorys, the Lees, the Lukes, but he didn't go for any of these guys when asked to pick just one. "I'm going to surprise you," he said. "I'm going for a great driver of the ball and a fantastic long putter. I think Lucas Glover has an excellent chance."

Lucas Glover out of Greenville, South Carolina. An American. A bearded American. Opinions vary on who was the last bearded winner of the Open. There is a case to be made for 'Bushy' Bob Ferguson in 1882, but he was more of the goatee rather than the full-on growth. The consensus is that Willie Park, the demon of Musselburgh, was the last one and you have to do go back to 1875 to find him in all his hairy pomp. Is Glover the new Park? We shall see.

Earlier in the week, nobody would have put much store in the idea of an American winner. Hank Haney, former coach of Tiger Woods, all but wrote them all off last weekend. Every last one. Every chin-stroker on the golf circuit has, at some stage in the recent past, written, with some justification, about the troubled state of American golf, how the Europeans have bypassed them, how there might not be another American major winner for quite some time. But here was one of 'ours' tipping one of 'theirs'. It just seemed like a strange thing to do, but then Karlsson is a bit odd sometimes. He went on a diet of bread and milk. He ate volcanic sand. He tipped an American to win the Open.

Maybe we all got too cosy in our view of a declining American influence in these tournaments, maybe when Phil Mickelson, and others, talked-up the American challenge and said, to paraphrase, 'Give us a break, we're not dead in the water', he wasn't spinning the truth, but was actually speaking the truth as he saw it. What we saw in the second round at St George's tended to back him up. We saw some stellar names from Europe plummeting so far down the leaderboard that they disappeared over the cut mark and we saw a battalion of Americans play themselves into contention.

And the end of round two, Glover was tied for the lead, Chad Campbell was tied for third with Davis Love III, Tom Lehman and Dustin Johnson all locked together in seventh. Phil Mickelson, Jeff Overton and Ryan Palmer were all under-par, Steve Stricker, Rickie Fowler, Zach Johnson, Anthony Kim, Kyle Stanley and Webb Simpson were all on level par. They are in contention on a golf course, and in golfing conditions, that could not have been more alien to them and that claimed the scalp of some of those we assumed would thrive in such circumstances. Men like Lee Westwood. The links were hard and bouncy and got harder and bouncier as the day went on. "The course is like a brick," said Lehman.

Here they come, then. The Americans, the ones we discounted. Lehman, who shot 67, the joint-lowest round of the day, was asked about the theory that had his countrymen akin to also-runs in these kind of conditions. "I don't think it's easy to put Americans in a box and say they can only play one certain kind of golf," he pointed out. "This course brings out a bit of the creativity that a lot of the guys have but they're not forced to use. The game in the United States, the courses we play, don't force the guys to bring out their creative side. But they have it."

They are a strange collection up there. No Nick Watney, no Matt Kuchar, the guys you might have expected to get in the picture. Glover is joint-leader having finished no better than 28th in his five Opens. Campbell is third having missed the cut the last two times he played in this championship. Johnson is bang there on 2-under despite feeling like death warmed-up in his first round and not a whole lot better during his second. His glands are bothering him, he's on antibiotics, he's 80 per cent fit, which is an improvement on Thursday, but not a massive improvement. He still feels "crummy" as one American writer put it and yet he's here and Westwood has departed, Luke Donald has departed, Graeme McDowell and Padraig Harrington have gone, also. And Ian Poulter, too.

"It's a bit like home," said Campbell, rather strangely. "In west Texas we get a lot of wind. The terrain is not really similar, but I can definitely relate." Campbell shot 68, one of a dozen rounds in the 60s by Americans.

The word they use most often is ‘fun'. In this part of the world we snigger at their constant use of that word. We think it's the Americans trying to convince themselves that links golf is enjoyable when, really, they don't believe it is. Some of them at any rate. Mickelson, primarily. This championship has caused him any amount of suffering. He's played in it 17 times and has only ever got in the shake-up once. He has one top-10 finish in all that time. A miserable record for a player who says he loves it out there on the links. Absolutely loves it. He said he was having fun in the storms and landslides of Castle Stuart last week. If he fell into the Moray Firth and a whale attacked him he is of such a positive mind that he'd call that fun, too. ‘Gee whizz, I had a fun time'.

But here's the thing with Mickelson. He looked like he was having fun yesterday. His Open record is horrific for a player of his ability and he knows it and is probably embarrassed by it, but he's desperate to rectify it and you have to admire him for that. It's fun (that word again) to be in contention heading into the weekend," he said. "One of the things I'm looking forward to is actually the bad weather. I hope that it comes in and that we get faced with that. It's going to be a very difficult challenge."

Phil wants foul weather. The world truly is turning. "You know, I just wanted to start fresh," he said of his poor history in this championship. "I've loved links golf and I just had to enjoy the challenge of it more. I've always loved the different shots that are required and the strategy. There's been an element (this week) that's been helpful. I've been working on this very low shot off the tee, a very low driver, low 3-wood and I've been able to control it and get it to roll along the ground (under the wind)."

How long had Phil been working on this shot?

"Well, I started in 2004, the year I played well, but I haven't been as sharp with it over the years. Historically, I have not played great in windy conditions and rain, but I welcome the challenge and I'm hoping that I've got the shots now to be effective in it."

Mickleson is three off the lead. Normally he's on his way home by now. Three off the lead and, like his countrymen, having fun.