Scottie Scheffler is leading the American charge to complete a rare Grand Slam of the Majors but had to shoot a second consecutive 70 without the normal encouragement of his friend and caddie, Ted Scott.

The world No. 1 stayed in contention five shots behind leader Shane Lowry despite Scott feeling so poorly he had to sit or lie flat out next to the green while his charge was putting.

‘He had a bit of food poisoning or some kind of stomach bug,’ revealed Scheffler.

‘He didn’t sleep much on Thursday night and we didn’t know if he was going to be able to go this morning but he fought it out. You saw him laying down quite a bit out there which was pretty funny.

'It was one of those deals. I’m used to him being in one position, standing there by the bag, and all of a sudden at No9, he was literally sitting on the tenth tee for 10 minutes while we were putting.

‘I didn’t even see him which was a bit unusual but he’s a fighter. He battled through it and did a good job.’

Scheffler and compatriots Xander Schauffele and Bryson DeChambeau have won the first three Majors this year and another victory for USA would complete a first clean sweep since 1982 when Tom Watson (2), Craig Stadler and Raymond Floyd triumphed.

The 28-year-old Masters champion, who was arrested at the USPGA in May after trying to drive into Valhalla Golf Club with charges later dropped, moved into contention with birdies at 14 and 16 and fancies his chances despite dropping a shot on the last following a wayward tee shot.

‘I feel like I'm in a decent position,’ he said. ‘I would liked to have been leading but I've played two solid rounds and I'll just continue to try to hit good shots and good putts out there.’

Though Britain and Ireland sit atop the leaderboard, there is a strong contingent of Americans besides Scheffler ready to pounce over the weekend and they’ll have strong support from the galleries with large numbers of fans crossing The Atlantic to Royal Troon.

Billy Horschel (-2), US Open winner Schauffele (-1) and Patrick Cantlay (-1) are all in the top 10 with Horschel taking advantage of more benign conditions in the morning to shoot 68.

Schauffele and Cantlay were in Tiger Woods’ group with Cantlay, who went to the turn in 33, inspired by playing with the 15-time Major winner.

‘Anytime being out with Tiger is great, especially having my buddy Xander also in the group’ he said. ‘Tiger is a great competitor and the three of us had fun.

‘I felt like we had the best of the fans out there which you’re going to get with Tiger.’

Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka and Collin Morikawa formed a heavyweight trio of American players who can’t be ruled out after finishing on one over.

Johnson isn’t ruling out another stars and stripes success. ‘These are tough conditions, you can be pretty far behind as long as you play well,’ he said.

‘My wife and a couple of her friends are in Saint-Tropez – I don’t blame here for not liking this weather!’

Other U.S. hopes didn’t fare well. Justin Thomas, who led the field for much of Monday, double-bogeyed three of his first five holes yesterday to drop down the leaderboard.

Defending champion Brian Harman found the going tough dropping shots at holes three, four and five.

DeChambeau dropped two shots before making his first birdie on nine as he tried to rectify the damage caused by a 76 in his opening round.