Colin Montgomerie may now have moved on to a new phase in his golfing life, but he has brought a lot of old baggage on the journey.

On a bright Lancashire day, the Scot's bogey finish in the second round of the British Senior Open at Royal Birkdale cast a familiar cloud over the 50-year-old's features, and ended with a familiar refusal to discuss matters with the waiting media as he walked briskly from the scorer's hut.

It was ever thus with Montgomerie, who would have witnessed a more profitable form of self-parody had he hung around to watch Bernhard Langer move to the top of the leaderboard later in the day. It would understate Langer's approach to his sport to call him calculating, and that old slide-rule mind of his was running smoothly as he carved out a round of 67 to share the lead with American Mark Wiebe, one shot ahead of South Africa's David Frost.

The one blot on Langer's card was added at the par-4 sixth, where a double-hit greenside chip – he caught the ball on his follow-through – produced a double-bogey six. It was an uncharacteristic error by the 55-year-old German, but it was not long before the gears were running smoothly again. He was flawless over the remaining 12 holes, birdying four of them to take the outright lead.

Wiebe's late surge was one of the most remarkable developments of the day. A journeyman for most of his days on the PGA Tour, he has enjoyed an Indian summer among the seniors, winning three times since joining the oldies six years ago. Wiebe birdied four of the last six holes to move alongside Langer, in whose company he will play today.

Langer won the Senior Open at Carnoustie three years ago. Clearly, tough courses, and especially those that require almost forensic precision, suit his eye and his game.

"This is an extremely interesting course because you have so many options," said Langer at the finish. "You can play somewhat safe with a hybrid or some kind of iron off the tee, but then you have a huge iron into the green. Or you can play more aggressive, play it on the bunkers and the doglegs, and have less club into the green. But you get punished severely if you're off."

You don't have to tell Jan Lubieniecki. The Pole – believed to be the first player from the country to take part in a major championship – was an eye-watering 32-over-par at the end of his second round. The only apparent consolation was that he had made a significant overnight improvement, backing up his opening 19-over-par round of 89 with a rather less humiliating 83.

Along the way, Lubieniecki figured he had lost something in the region of six golf balls – understandably, his memory was not too sharp on these matters – but he took his misfortune in a spirit of equanimity that would have journalists reaching for the smelling salts if Montgomerie ever displayed the same outlook.

Lubieniecki had only been brought into the field as first alternate when Curtis Strange dropped out just before the tournament got underway. "They told me that I should come to the course and practice as they knew Curtis Strange was out of the tournament," he said. "I was thrilled. I was so excited, but on the other hand I was so scared. I thought, 'what am I going to do here?'"

Lubieniecki, who took up golf after fleeing to the United States to escape martial law in Poland in the early 1980s, had been on the point of withdrawing after his 89 on Thursday. However, he was approached on the practice ground by Frost, who had taken pity on him.

"I'm so grateful to David," he said. "He actually straightened me out. It was something rather simple. I was fortunate to be standing in front of him. I was looking for a solution and he came forward. He approached me, and said, 'why don't you try this?'"

There was another sort of redemption for Sandy Lyle, who famously walked off the Birkdale course during the first round of the 2008 Open Championship. Lyle, who played all four rounds at Muirfield last week, shot a 68, rolling back the years with five birdies in a round which would have been even better without the three bogeys he also put on his card.

"There was some good golf being played," said Lyle. "And only one really skanky shot. I blocked a 3-wood miles right [at the sixth] into uncharted territory. The ball spotter saw where it landed but we couldn't find it for three or four minutes.

"I'm always very dubious about what can happen on this course. You just never know – you get a ball plugged in a bunker face or whatever. But I was very pleased with the way it went. The things I have been working on are starting to come through and I have a bit more confidence week by week."