She threw high winds and torrential rain across the Royal Birkdale course but the two-time major champion took it all in his stride.

Having started the second round tied for the lead at five under, the American was just one of seven players in the field of 156 to break the par of 70. And he did it in atrocious conditions for golf.

The golfing world has grown accustomed to the Spieth highlight reel that is sprinkled with magical moments of brilliance. On day two of this Open Championship he delved deep into his bag of tricks to conjure up a one under 69 to reach six under through 36 holes and create a two-stroke break over his nearest pursuer, countryman Matt Kuchar (71). England’s Ian Poulter (70) and US Open Champion Brooks Koepka (72) are a further stroke back at three under.

The 23-year-old opened his round with a birdie at the 1st hole. But bogies at the 3rd and 9th holes had him backpedalling like the rest of the field.

And just when it seemed like he too would fall victim to the near gale force winds and driving rain, he stemmed the flow of dropped shots with a touch of genius. After hitting his tee shot into a fairway bunker on 10, he blasted from the sand and hit his third shot on the par-4 through the right edge of the green. With very little green to work with, he showed velvety touch to chip the ball onto the putting surface and into the hole for his par.

Moments later, the siren sounded to enforce a temporary suspension of play because of heavy rain. When play restarted 25 minutes later, Spieth quickly added two birdies to get back to six under.

RIGHT: Jordan Spieth hits a 3-wood from the rough to set an eagle on the 15th hole. PHOTO: Getty Images.

He gave a shot back at the par-3 14th as the wind kicked up into overdrive once more. But there was more magic to come.

On the par-5 15th, he missed the fairway left from the tee but he was still able to play an incredible low-cutting fairway wood that beat a path through the wind and rain onto the green and 20 feet from the flag. He converted the eagle putt to move to seven under and with three holes to play appeared likely to sprint away from the peloton.

But a bogey on 16 dropped him back to six under and it was there where he remained with two pars on the remaining holes.

Spieth said the eagle on 15 was crucial in regaining some momentum for his round.

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“I thought on 15, as long as you don't hit it in the two right pot bunkers, should be able to reach the green in two,” he said. “I didn't hit a great drive. With a nifty lie, I had a 3-iron out and I changed to 3-wood because I've hit the shot many times out of the rough with the 3-wood where you open the face and hit a cut shot off the left, and let it just slide. And it was the smart shot because it was probably going to come out better than the 3-iron.

“As long as I got in it on line with the green, it was either there or past.

“I mis-hit the shot, which is probably why it looked so gross on the Shot Tracker, and obviously wanted it to miss the last bunker. I hit it low off the heel, which is easy to do when you're trying to carve a cut. And it just, one hop, scooted around the group of bunkers there, and then it was obviously fortunate to get all the way to the green and keep on going towards the green instead of over towards the left bunker.

Spieth hits his tee shot on the par-4 14th hole. PHOTO: Getty Images.

“It was really nice to capitalise on it. I knew after it had missed that bunker it was going to be pretty good. I got away with one there. And I was able to knock that putt in, get me to 7-under, which was a place I didn't think I'd get to today starting the day.”

Spieth said he spent the morning before his second round watching the TV coverage of The Open and confessed, given the conditions, “I would have gladly stayed on the couch.”

“I was watching the coverage this morning for even par, and I'd still be there right now,” Spieth smiled.

“I would have loved that, because I knew it was going to get windy. It was up to 95 percent (chance of rain) by 4:00, chance of rain 100% by 5:00. The wind was going to drop maybe five miles an hour but it was going to get wet and that was only going to make it play harder than what it was playing this morning.

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“I saw from this morning it wasn't playing easy. So at that point this morning it was tough watching. It wasn't a great feeling knowing we were coming into something harder than what we were watching.”

Now that he is in the lead on his own, Spieth said he expects to have some nerves as he tries to win his first Open and his third leg of the Grand Slam.

Ian Poulter ground out a par round to be three strokes behind Spieth. PHOTO: Getty Images.

“Anytime you're in the last group on a weekend in the major, and this is, I think probably a dozen times I've had at least a share of the lead in a major championship, you get nervous,” he confessed. “I'll be feeling it this weekend a bit.

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“But I enjoy it because … as long as I approach it positively and recognise this is what you want to feel because you're in a position you want to be in, then the easier it is to hit solid shots and to create solid rounds.

Matt Kuchar is Spieth's closest pursuer as he tries to win his first major title. PHOTO: Getty Images.

“So I feel good now. There will be nerves, for sure, next couple of days but, again, control the ball off the tee, takes care of a lot of it.”

Kuchar, who will be paired with Spieth in the final group of the third round, was finished his round by lunchtime on Friday and escaped the rain but not the high winds.

The 39-year-old has been a measure of consistency throughout the first two days. After going bogey-free for his 65 on Thursday, he dropped four shots in the second round but also added three birdies for his 71.