WHEN DO you start to dream, to start thinking of what it would be like to clasp the Claret Jug and hold it close to your chest? To have your name engraved next to legends of the past, and present?

In Graeme McDowell's case, not just yet. Maybe tonight, all going well, but after yesterday's second round 73 for 142, two over, left him in the thick of the hunt at the 137th British Open there was time only for mature reflection, not for allowing racy thoughts run wild.

After the first round, on Thursday evening, McDowell sat down to watch a DVD with his father, Kenny, his mother, Marian, and manager Conor Ridge. It was a feel-good reel, where he knew the plot and how it would finish. It was a DVD of his own win in last Sunday's Scottish Open. It was the required tonic ahead of another tough old day on the Royal Birkdale links.

Yesterday, though, the task at hand was a far cry from the bonny banks of Loch Lomond as McDowell found the buffeting of the wind affecting his rhythm.

"I had a slow start," he admitted. "You know, four or five days of swinging the golf club in this kind of wind inevitably takes its toll a little bit, and I felt my rhythm wasn't quite there for the first 10 or 11 holes."

In fact, McDowell was four over for his round after 11 holes following bogeys at the second, sixth, 10th and 11th. At that stage, he was finding it all a bit of a battle.

"But I was still looking at it that the glass was half full," he remarked of his mindset as the shots slipped away.

In his fifth straight tournament on tour, there might have been a fear the batteries would start to run a little low but McDowell finished strongly, covering the last seven holes in one under par.

"I feel remarkably fresh," he said. "I've never really felt this good after winning the week before and maybe that has something to do with this tournament - it gives you a little bit of a buzz. And with the golf course being as much of a challenge as it is I think it focuses the mind. You have to just sharpen the focus a little bit."

The birdie, when it came, was a good one. The par-four 16th measures 439 yards and was playing into the teeth of the wind.

McDowell was left with an approach shot of 180 yards and hit a three-iron as good as he could to four feet. He sank the putt, and the clenched-fist salute to himself showed how much it meant.

"I was ecstatic about that shot obviously. I really felt I needed to pick something up on the way in."

So dare he think of winning?

"I'm certainly not thinking about winning at this stage," he responded. "Maybe tomorrow night I might play my way into thinking that way, but I just think it will be such a tough weekend and it's wide open.

"Anyone within four, five or six shots of the lead has a chance. But, like I said, I'm not going to be thinking about winning. I have 36 holes of really difficult golf to come, and hopefully I can control the golf ball well enough to give myself a chance. That's all I'm really looking for."

Certainly, McDowell can look forward to the weekend with a mix of anticipation and confidence. After all, he is currently the hottest player on the European Tour - with a run of 13th-3rd-1st in his last three appearances - and, aware of the challenge, he also knows he has momentum.

"I think I'm a bit more in control of my golf swing than I was a couple of years ago," he said, referring to the last time - at Hoylake in 2006 - he got into a challenging position.

"I know where the bad shots are coming from and, as I said, it's tough to keep your rhythm good when the wind is blowing hard.

"You're out there trying to hit everything really low and hard, to control the flight so much, and inevitably you're going to hit some bad shots, some snatchy ones, and that's kind of what I did.

"But at least I know where those shots are coming from, and I can kind of correct it on the golf course . . . I'm exactly where I want to be going into the weekend."