English amateur Tom Lewis was doing his best to stay upbeat on Friday after following up his fairytale British Open first round with a disappointing four-over-par 74.
The 20-year-old prospect showed composure that belied his tender years at Royal St George's on Thursday, shooting the lowest ever total by an amateur at the Open to grab a share of the overnight lead.
But the youngster struggled to adjust to his front-running status on Friday, shooting five bogeys against a solitary birdie to slip back to one under for the tournament after 36 holes.
Although that left him only three behind clubhouse leaders Darren Clarke and Lucas Glover, Lewis acknowledged he could have done better.
"I think if you'd offered me that two days ago I would have taken it, but at the moment it doesn't feel so good," Lewis said.
"Four over is not a great score, but the way I hit it and the way I felt on the greens today wasn't terrible. But I'm only three back and hopefully I can stay there and have two good scores at the weekend."
Lewis did at least get to spend more time with one of his heroes, five-time Open winner Tom Watson, the American legend who he was named after.
Watson, who had lavished praise on Lewis on Thursday, chatted to the youngster throughout Friday's round and gave him words of encouragement when his game was threatening to unravel.
"Walking down the fairway with Tom on the seventh, giving his tips on how he's won and the courses he's enjoyed is definitely the highlight of my career so far," Lewis said.
"We were just talking about previous wins of his and the courses he likes as a links course and coming over here and playing. So it was really good of him to share them, and not many people can get that time with him.
"When I was making mistakes and limiting double bogeys to bogeys and holing par putts, he was really nice."
American amateur champion Peter Uihlein also made the cut and goes into the third round on two over par, three behind the new English star.
Five amateurs started the championship at Sandwich, but Australian Bryden Macpherson, winner of the British title last month, missed by one on four over, Denmark's European champion Lucas Bjerregard finished eight over and qualifier Chris Hinton was a distant last on 29 over.
