World Number One Luke Donald fired four birdies in five holes to take his place on the leaderboard during the second round of The Open Championship.
Looking to become the first English Open Champion since Sir Nick Faldo won at Muirfield 20 years ago, Donald turned in a two under par 31 to be three under for the tournament at Royal Lytham & St Annes.
That was still three behind overnight leader Adam Scott and American Brandt Snedeker, who birdied the first and sixth to claim a share of top spot.
Donald, still seeking his first Major Championship, bogeyed the third but responded with a hattrick of gains and, after paring the long seventh, rolled in a 30 footer at the eighth.
Meanwhile Rory McIlroy failed to make the most of some slices of good luck and more benign conditions in the second round.
McIlroy complained of "an unfortunate break" during his opening 67, running up a double bogey on the 15th when his drive bounced off a young spectator's head and went out of bounds.
The former US Open Champion joked "He could have headed it the other way!" after checking that Bristol teenager Jason Blue was unharmed and giving him a signed glove, but he could have few complaints about the slices of luck he enjoyed on Friday.
After a regulation par on the first, McIlroy pushed his drive on the second and was fortunate that it stopped a few feet short of the thickest rough, allowing him to pitch out short of the green and save par.
Another pushed drive on the third was similarly fortunate, but that was nothing compared to the luck McIlroy enjoyed next, hooking his approach well left of the green but seeing the ball creep onto the fourth tee as Japan's Toshinori Muto and his caddie in the group ahead heard the cries of 'fore' and took evasive action.
A few inches to the right and the ball could easily have been unplayable, but the 23 year old Ulsterman did not make the most of his reprieve, pitching to ten feet but missing the par putt.
McIlroy bounced back with a birdie on the fourth from 12 feet, but dropped a shot on the sixth after finding a greenside bunker with his approach and, after a birdie on the par five seventh, suffered more bunker trouble on the ninth.
The World Number Two needed two attempts to escape from sand and two-putted for a double-bogey five to drop back to one under, five shots off the lead.
Belgium's Nicolas Colsaerts, one off the lead overnight, was back on level par after running up an eight on the seventh in a front nine of 39.
England’s Greg Owen showed what was possible in the still excellent conditions, spinning his approach to the 18th back into the hole for an eagle two.
That gave Owen, who also had an albatross on the par five 11th the last time The Open was staged here in 2001, a second consecutive 71 to lie two over for the tournament and in with a good chance of making the halfway cut.
Healthy crowds were lining the course despite tournament officials hoping many spectators would delay their arrivals after heavy rain overnight left standing water on parts of the course.
Donald's charge was halted when he fired his approach to the tenth over the green and failed to hit his chip hard enough up a small slope, the resulting bogey dropping him back to two under.
That was five shots off the lead now held by American Brandt Snedeker, whose third birdie of the day on the seventh took him to seven under to finally knock Scott off the top of the leaderboard.
