TROON, Scotland (AP) — Shane Lowry was a surprising model of calm amid all the calamity in the British Open on Friday.

Lowry was not immune from the endless punishment Royal Troon dished out on a day when Tiger Woods missed another cut, along with nine of the top 20 players in the world — including Rory McIlroy, Ludvig Aberg and Bryson DeChambeau.

Click to Gallery

TROON, Scotland (AP) — Shane Lowry was a surprising model of calm amid all the calamity in the British Open on Friday.

Bryson DeChambeau of the United States throws his ball into the stands following his second round of the British Open Golf Championships at Royal Troon golf club in Troon, Scotland, Friday, July 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Scott Heppell)

Max Homa of the United States reacts after sinking a birdie putt on the 18th green during his second round of the British Open Golf Championships at Royal Troon golf club in Troon, Scotland, Friday, July 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Scott Heppell)

Ludvig Åberg of Sweden reacts as he walks off the 18th green following his second round of the British Open Golf Championships at Royal Troon golf club in Troon, Scotland, Friday, July 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Scott Heppell)

Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland waves as he walks off the 18th green following his second round of the British Open Golf Championships at Royal Troon golf club in Troon, Scotland, Friday, July 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Scott Heppell)

Tiger Woods of the United States with compatriots Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay line up their putts on the first green during their second round of the British Open Golf Championships at Royal Troon golf club in Troon, Scotland, Friday, July 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison)

Daniel Brown of England waits by the 18th green during his second round of the British Open Golf Championships at Royal Troon golf club in Troon, Scotland, Friday, July 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Jon Super)

Scottie Scheffler of the United States drops his club after his approach shot into the sixth green during his second round of the British Open Golf Championships at Royal Troon golf club in Troon, Scotland, Friday, July 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison)

Robert MacIntyre of Scotland plays from the rough during his second round of the British Open Golf Championships at Royal Troon golf club in Troon, Scotland, Friday, July 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Jon Super)

Tiger Woods of the United States plays from the rough on the sixth hole during his second round of the British Open Golf Championships at Royal Troon golf club in Troon, Scotland, Friday, July 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison)

Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland reacts after playing from the rough on the third hole during his second round of the British Open Golf Championships at Royal Troon golf club in Troon, Scotland, Friday, July 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison)

Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland reacts on the 14th tee during his second round of the British Open Golf Championships at Royal Troon golf club in Troon, Scotland, Friday, July 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Jon Super)

Shane Lowry of Ireland putts on the eighth green during his second round of the British Open Golf Championships at Royal Troon golf club in Troon, Scotland, Friday, July 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Jon Super)

Shane Lowry of Ireland walks to the eighth green during his second round of the British Open Golf Championships at Royal Troon golf club in Troon, Scotland, Friday, July 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Jon Super)

Shane Lowry of Ireland throws his ball into the stands as he walks from the 18th green following his second round of the British Open Golf Championships at Royal Troon golf club in Troon, Scotland, Friday, July 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Scott Heppell)

He was close to losing his cool with a photographer who distracted him, a shot into the gorse bush, a beautiful provisional shot to the 11th green that didn’t count when his lost ball became found and a double bogey that wiped out his two-shot lead.

Lowry steadied himself with two birdies on the last three holes for a 2-under 69, leaving him in a familiar position as he chases that silver claret jug he first won at Royal Portrush five years ago. He had a two-shot lead over Justin Rose and Daniel Brown going into the weekend.

“I was in control of my ball, did all the right things for a lot of the round. Then when I got in a bit of trouble, I feel like I really finished the round well,” Lowry said. “I’m pretty happy with the day. To be leading this tournament after two days, it’s why you come here. It’s why we’re here.”

The shocker at Royal Troon — there were a lot of them Friday — was how many of the top players were leaving.

DeChambeau, the U.S Open champion with top 10s in all the majors this year, managed only one birdie in a round of 75. McIlroy would have needed anything under par, and those hopes ended with a triple bogey 8 on his fourth hole. He shot 75.

“I’d much rather have a disappointing Sunday than going home on Friday,” said McIlroy, who was coming off a late collapse that cost him the U.S. Open.

Woods had a 77 to miss the cut in his third straight major, this one by eight shots. His 36-hole score of 156 matched his highest as a pro.

Lowry was at 7-under 135, and only nine other players remained under par after two days of havoc-wreaking wind off the Irish Sea.

Brown, playing in his first major championship, held it together for a 72 that puts him in the final group on the weekend with Lowry. Rose wasn’t even sure he would be at Troon until he went through 36-hole qualifying at the start of the month. He went 29 holes before finally making a bogey, and then he finished strong for a 68.

Masters champion Scottie Scheffler found a pot bunker off the tee at the downwind 18th and made bogey, but otherwise was solid as ever for another 70. He was tied for fourth just five shots behind, along with Billy Horschel (68) and Dean Burmester (69).

“I know tomorrow is going to be a long day, but I’ve done it before,” Lowry said. “For me, it’s just about going out and playing my own game, shooting the best score I can. Try not to worry about what other people are doing and just trying to take care of your own personal stuff.”

It was best to keep blinders on at Royal Troon. There were some harrowing scenes.

Justin Thomas, who opened with a 68 to get himself in the mix, shot a 45 on the front nine and played his best golf from there to salvage a 78 and make sure he at least made the cut.

Robert MacIntyre had an even tougher start. Scotland’s biggest star after winning his national Open last week, MacIntyre was stuck in pot bunkers and high grass. He was 8 over for his round through four holes — four holes! — and then played 4 under the rest of the way for a remarkable 75 to make the cut.

The cut was at 6-over 148.

Aguri Iwasaki had them all beat. He took a 9 on consecutive holes and shot 52 on the back nine for a 91. One of those 9s was on the par-3 14th, where he took four shots out of two bunkers and once had to go backward toward the fairway.

McIlroy, who started with a 78, needed a good start and instead got a triple bogey. He barely moved the ball out of thick grass on the par-5 fourth. Once he got back to the fairway, he pulled another shot into the rough, chipped that into the bunker and ended the sad tale by missing a 4-foot putt.

“Once I made the 8 on the fourth hole that was it — 22 holes into the event and I’m thinking about where I’m going to go on vacation next week,” McIlroy said.

PGA champion Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay were in the group at 1-under 141.

Another shot back was Joaquin Niemann. He had another 71 despite taking a quintuple-bogey 8 on the par-3 eighth hole — the Postage Stamp — that measures a mere 123 yards. He was in three bunkers around the tiny green and three-putted when he finally got out of them. Niemann also made six birdies in a most remarkable round of level par.

So much chaos across the century-old links, and it looked for a brief moment like Lowry might take part. He was in the right rough, but he was distracted by a photographer and angry at himself for not backing off the shot that he tugged left toward a clump of gorse.

Figuring it would be lost in the prickly mess, Lowry hit a provisional for a lost ball onto the green, a terrific shot. One problem. Someone found the ball. It was no longer lost, so the provisional ball was not in play.

Lowry took a penalty drop from the bush, going back to find a place where he had a swing, put it short of the green, chipped on and salvaged a double bogey 6.

“To be honest, I was happy enough leaving there with a 6. It wasn’t a disaster. I was still leading the tournament,” Lowry said.

And now comes a big opportunity for Lowry to reclaim that claret jug. He’s not alone in the chase, especially with Troon’s ability to make anyone look silly. Scheffler has quietly avoided some of those moments.

“I’ve played two solid rounds and it put me five shots back, and I’ll continue to try to execute and just continue to try to hit good shots and hit good putts,” Scheffler said, making it all sound so simple on a day when nothing felt easy.

AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf

Tom Kim of Korea throws his ball into the stands after finishing his second round of the British Open Golf Championships at Royal Troon golf club in Troon, Scotland, Friday, July 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Scott Heppell)

Bryson DeChambeau of the United States throws his ball into the stands following his second round of the British Open Golf Championships at Royal Troon golf club in Troon, Scotland, Friday, July 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Scott Heppell)

Max Homa of the United States reacts after sinking a birdie putt on the 18th green during his second round of the British Open Golf Championships at Royal Troon golf club in Troon, Scotland, Friday, July 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Scott Heppell)

Ludvig Åberg of Sweden reacts as he walks off the 18th green following his second round of the British Open Golf Championships at Royal Troon golf club in Troon, Scotland, Friday, July 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Scott Heppell)

Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland waves as he walks off the 18th green following his second round of the British Open Golf Championships at Royal Troon golf club in Troon, Scotland, Friday, July 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Scott Heppell)

Tiger Woods of the United States with compatriots Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay line up their putts on the first green during their second round of the British Open Golf Championships at Royal Troon golf club in Troon, Scotland, Friday, July 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison)

Daniel Brown of England waits by the 18th green during his second round of the British Open Golf Championships at Royal Troon golf club in Troon, Scotland, Friday, July 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Jon Super)

Scottie Scheffler of the United States drops his club after his approach shot into the sixth green during his second round of the British Open Golf Championships at Royal Troon golf club in Troon, Scotland, Friday, July 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison)

Robert MacIntyre of Scotland plays from the rough during his second round of the British Open Golf Championships at Royal Troon golf club in Troon, Scotland, Friday, July 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Jon Super)

Tiger Woods of the United States plays from the rough on the sixth hole during his second round of the British Open Golf Championships at Royal Troon golf club in Troon, Scotland, Friday, July 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison)

Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland reacts after playing from the rough on the third hole during his second round of the British Open Golf Championships at Royal Troon golf club in Troon, Scotland, Friday, July 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison)

Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland reacts on the 14th tee during his second round of the British Open Golf Championships at Royal Troon golf club in Troon, Scotland, Friday, July 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Jon Super)

Shane Lowry of Ireland putts on the eighth green during his second round of the British Open Golf Championships at Royal Troon golf club in Troon, Scotland, Friday, July 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Jon Super)

Shane Lowry of Ireland walks to the eighth green during his second round of the British Open Golf Championships at Royal Troon golf club in Troon, Scotland, Friday, July 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Jon Super)

Shane Lowry of Ireland throws his ball into the stands as he walks from the 18th green following his second round of the British Open Golf Championships at Royal Troon golf club in Troon, Scotland, Friday, July 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Scott Heppell)

CHILLICOTHE, Mo. (AP) — A woman whose murder conviction was overturned after she served 43 years of a life sentence was released Friday, despite attempts in the last month by Missouri’s attorney general to keep her behind bars.

Sandra Hemme, 64, left a prison in Chillicothe, hours after a judge threatened to hold the attorney general’s office in contempt if they continued to fight against her release. She reunited with her family at a nearby park, where she hugged her sister, daughter and granddaughter.

“You were just a baby when your mom sent me a picture of you,” she said. “You looked just like your mamma when you were little and you still look like her.”

Her granddaughter laughed. “I get that a lot.”

Hemme had been the longest-held wrongly incarcerated woman known in the U.S., according to her legal team at the Innocence Project. The judge originally ruled on June 14 that Hemme’s attorneys had established “clear and convincing evidence” of “actual innocence” and he overturned her conviction. But Republican Attorney General Andrew Bailey fought her release in the courts.

“It was too easy to convict an innocent person and way harder than it should have been to get her out, even to the point of court orders being ignored,” her attorney Sean O’Brien said. “It shouldn’t be this hard to free an innocent person.”

During a court hearing Friday, Judge Ryan Horsman said that if Hemme wasn’t released within hours, Bailey himself would have to appear in court Tuesday morning. He threatened to hold the attorney general’s office in contempt.

He also scolded Bailey’s office for calling the warden and telling prison officials not to release Hemme after an appeals court panel said she could be released. “I would suggest you never do that,” Horsman said, adding: “To call someone and tell them to disregard a court order is wrong.”

Hemme declined to address reporters after she was released. O’Brien said she was going straight to the side of her father, who was hospitalized with kidney failure and recently moved to palliative care. ”This has been a long time coming,” he said of her release.

O’Brien said previously that delays had caused their family “irreparable harm and emotional distress.”

There are still struggles ahead.

“She’s going to need help,” he said, noting she won’t be eligible for social security because she has been incarcerated for so long.

Over the last month, a circuit judge, an appellate court and the Missouri Supreme Court all agreed Hemme should be released, but she was still held behind bars, leaving her lawyers and legal experts puzzled.

“I’ve never seen it,” said Michael Wolff, a former Missouri Supreme Court judge and professor and dean emeritus of Saint Louis University Law School. “Once the courts have spoken, the courts should be obeyed.”

The lone holdup to freedom came from the attorney general, who filed court motions seeking to force her to serve additional years for decades-old prison assault cases. The warden at the Chillicothe Correctional Center initially declined to let Hemme go, based on Bailey’s actions.

Horsman ruled on June 14 that “the totality of the evidence supports a finding of actual innocence.” A state appeals court ruled on July 8 that Hemme should be set free while it continued to review the case. The Missouri Supreme Court on Thursday declined to undo the lower court rulings that allowed her to be released on her own recognizance and placed with her sister and brother-in-law.

Bailey, a Republican facing opposition in the Aug. 6 primary election, responded with another request late Thursday, asking the Circuit Court to reconsider.

Hemme was serving a life sentence at the Chillicothe Correctional Center for the 1980 stabbing death of library worker Patricia Jeschke in St. Joseph, Missouri.

Hemme’s immediate freedom was complicated by sentences she received for crimes committed while behind bars. She received a 10-year sentence in 1996 for attacking a prison worker with a razor blade, and a two-year sentence in 1984 for “offering to commit violence.” Bailey had argued that Hemme represents a safety risk to herself and others and that she should start serving those sentences now.

Her attorneys countered that keeping her incarcerated any longer would be a “draconian outcome.”

Some legal experts agreed.

Peter Joy, a law professor at the Washington University School of Law in St. Louis, said the effort to keep Hemme in prison was “a shock to the conscience of any decent human being,” since evidence strongly suggests she didn’t commit the crime.

Bailey’s office did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment Friday.

Bailey, who was appointed attorney general after Eric Schmitt was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2022, has a history of opposing overturning convictions, even when local prosecutors cite evidence of actual innocence.

Horsman, after an extensive review, concluded in June that Hemme was heavily sedated and in a “malleable mental state” when investigators repeatedly questioned her in a psychiatric hospital after the killing. Her attorneys described her ultimate confession as “often monosyllabic responses to leading questions.” Other than the confession, no evidence linked her to the crime, her trial prosecutor said.

The St. Joseph Police Department, meanwhile, ignored evidence pointing to Michael Holman — a fellow officer, who died in 2015 — and the prosecution wasn’t told about FBI results that could have cleared Hemme, so it was never disclosed before her trials, the judge found.

Evidence presented to Horsman showed that Holman’s pickup truck was seen outside Jeschke’s apartment, that he tried to use her credit card, and that her earrings were found in his home.

Horsman, in his report, called Hemme “the victim of a manifest injustice.”

__

Salter reported from O’Fallon, Missouri.

Sandra Hemme, center, meets with family and supporters after she was released from Chillicothe Correctional Center, Friday, July 19, 2024, in Chillicothe, Miss. Hemme’s murder conviction was overturned after she served 43 years in prison, despite objections from Missouri’s attorney general. (HG Biggs/The Kansas City Star via AP)

The Chillicothe Correctional Center in Chillicothe, Mo., is seen on Thursday, July 18, 2024. A ruling by the Missouri Supreme Court has paved the way for Sandra Hemme, a woman whose murder conviction was overturned, to be released from prison after serving 43 years. Hemme has been in custody at the Chillicothe Correctional Center. (AP Photo/Heather Hollingsworth)

A road sign pointing the way toward Chillicothe Correctional Center in Chillicothe, Mo., is seen on Thursday, July 18, 2024. A ruling by the Missouri Supreme Court has paved the way for Sandra Hemme, a woman whose murder conviction was overturned, to be released from prison after serving 43 years. Hemme has been in custody at the Chillicothe Correctional Center. (AP Photo/Heather Hollingsworth)

Chillicothe Correctional Center, where Sandra Hemme is being held, is pictured Thursday, July 18, 2024, in Chillicothe, Mo. A ruling by the Missouri Supreme Court has opened the way for Sandra Hemme, a woman whose murder conviction was overturned, to be released from prison after serving 43 years. Hemme has been in custody at the Chillicothe Correctional Center, shown in this Thursday, July 18, 2024, image. (AP Photo/Heather Hollingsworth)

FILE – This undated booking photo provided by the Missouri Department of Corrections shows Sandra Hemme. A ruling by the Missouri Supreme Court on Thursday, July 18, 2024, has opened the way for Hemme, whose murder conviction was overturned, to be released from prison after serving 43 years. (Missouri Department of Corrections via AP, File)