Miguel Angel Jiménez holds the clubhouse lead as the second round of The Senior Open Presented by Rolex was suspended after darkness fell on the Old Course at St Andrews.
The Spaniard, who started his round with bogeys on the first and fourth holes, made the turn level par for the day and then produced a scintillating performance on the back nine, coming home five under par for a nine under par total.
The 54 year old hopes to follow in the footsteps of the late, great Seve Ballesteros, who famously won his second Open Championship on the Old Course in 1984.
Jiménez birdied the tenth hole, eagled the 14thhole and birdied both the 15thand 16thholes to share the lead with Stephen Ames, who will only need to play the 18thhole when he resumes his round at 07:00 local time on Saturday morning. The second round was delayed by two hours and 20 minutes due to fog on the Fife coast.
“I played very solid today - super golf,” said Jiménez. “It was very difficult with very strong winds on the first nine holes, and then on the back nine I played solid.
"It would mean a lot to win The Senior Open, especially here at St Andrews, but some of the top players in the world are here. Seve was the first Spaniard to win The Open on this golf course, and it would be amazing if I could join the club with him.”
In a share of third place are defending champion Bernhard Langer and American pair Jeff Sluman and Kirk Triplett.
Langer, who started the day five under par, carded a blemish-free round of 69 as he continued his strong defence of The Senior Open Trophy.
“I had plenty of opportunities,” said Langer. “I hit most of the greens in regulation and towards the end of the round we got a nice break. The last three or four holes the wind kind of dropped and it was a lot easier than it would have been earlier in the day.”
Tom Watson continued to defy as he shot his age, a marvellous 68, on the Old Course.
"I have been playing well and I attribute it to practicing quite hard before I came here," said Watson. "I shot 68 on the Old Course under pretty good conditions and I'm very pleased. Anytime I can shoot my age I'm very pleased."
The three-time Senior Open champion shares sixth place with Sweden’s Jarmo Sandelin and Fiji’s Vijay Singh on seven under par.
Six groups, including Ames on nine under par, will complete their final rounds on Saturday morning starting at 07:00. The third round of The Senior Open Presented by Rolex will begin no earlier than 09:00.
