Brian Harman leads by five shots after two rounds of golf's Open Championship at Royal Liverpool Golf Club ©Getty Images

Brian Harman of the United States took a five-shot lead at the midway point of golf’s The Open Championship after a six-under-par round of 65.

Harman recorded four birdies in as many holes between the second and the fifth, before finishing his round in style with an eagle on the last.

Harman hit a tee shot of nearly 350 yards on the 18th to enable him to find the green with his second, before he holed a 16-foot putt to secure the eagle.

Co-leader after the opening round Tommy Fleetwood of England sits in second place at five-under-par, after a level-par round of 71.

Austria’s Sepp Straka is in third place at four-under-par, following a four-under-par round of 67, which included eight birdies, as well as a double bogey at three that he will want to forget.

Three players sit in a tie for fourth in Min Woo Lee of Australia, India’s Shubhankar Sharma and Australian Jason Day, who are all at three-under-par.

Elsewhere it was an eventful day on the 17th hole at Royal Liverpool Golf Club, as Australian Travis Smyth, who went on to miss the cut, made a hole-in-one on the new par-three known as Little Eye.

Members of the Just Stop Oil protest group threw orange powder on the 17th green on day two of the Open Championship ©Getty Images
Members of the Just Stop Oil protest group threw orange powder on the 17th green on day two of the Open Championship ©Getty Images

Later on the hole, members of the Just Stop Oil protest group, who are calling for the United Kingdom Government to halt new licences and consents for oil, gas and coal, threw an orange powder on to the green and set off a smoke pyrotechnic.

Merseyside Police later confirmed two men and two women were arrested on suspicion to commit criminal damage and causing a public nuisance.

The powder was quickly removed by greenkeepers using leaf-blowers and play continued without interruption.

Of the other overnight co-leaders Emiliano Grillo of Argentina recorded a three-over-par round of 74 to finish in a tie for seventh at two-under-par.

Meanwhile, South African amateur Christo Lamprecht had a bad day shooting a round of 79, including eight bogeys, and finished on three-over-par, just making the cut which fell at four-over-par.

Former Open champions Collin Morikawa of the United States, the winner in 2021, and Shane Lowry of Ireland, the champion in 2019, were among the high-profile names to miss the cut.

The final men’s major of the golfing year continues tomorrow.