Jamie Donaldson is expecting “dodgy” weather to make a Royal Troon a tougher challenge in the second round of The Open Championship on Friday.

The Welsh golfer is in contention after a promising two-under-par 69 on the opening day left him six shots behind leader Phil Mickelson.

But Donaldson believes strong winds and likely rain showers will ensure the course is a much tougher proposition over the weekend.

After hitting three birdies and one bogey on Thursday, Donaldson said: “I’ll have to wait and see what we get tomorrow, but I think the weather might be dodgy which is crazy after looking at today with no cloud in the sky.

“It’s very difficult – even without wind it’s still difficult. It was still a little windy today, but not as windy as it has been in practice.”

Reflecting on his form, he added: “It was good, but I’ve got three more days to produce the same sort of shots and scores.

“I played nicely at the start and got up to two under and played the back nine well making level par so I’m happy with the day.

“I played nice and hit a lot of fairways and greens and you’ve got to make some birdies on that front nine because if you don’t it’s difficult after that.”

Donaldson will start his second round at 1.26pm on Friday and says he will keep an eye on the early starters to see how the course plays.

“You can pick up some lines on puts and stuff like that,” Donaldson added.

“Sometimes you can get a great draw with the weather and sometimes you don’t.

“It pans out over the course of the year so you don’t know if it’s beneficial playing late or early in the day until the first two days are over.”