Rory McIlroy achieved the lowest 36-hole total in US Open Championship history - even with a double bogey six at the final hole of his second round.
The 22 year old reached halfway at Congressional on the 11 under par mark of 131 and with a remarkable eight stroke lead, although closest challenger YE Yang had not even teed off at that point.
After 17 holes McIlroy was in dreamland, the first player ever in the event to reach 13 under and lapping the field ten shots clear.
But then came a hook into the rough and a second that curled into the lake on the left of the demanding 523 yard par-four last.
Signing for a 66 to add to his opening 65 did not stop him still entering the US Open Championship record books, but a par four would have made him the first player in the history of any Major Championship to break 130 for the first two days.
Sir Nick Faldo remains the mark to beat in that department for his 130 aggregate en route to winning at Muirfield in 2002.
But McIlroy, as he has insisted ever since his closing 80 at the Masters Tournament in April, is focused on the future and not the past.
The young Ryder Cup star, trying to keep the trophy in Northern Irish hands following Graeme McDowell's victory last year, is a few months younger than Jack Nicklaus was when he lifted the first of his 18 Majors in 1962 and would be the youngest person to lift the trophy since another legend of golf - amateur Bobby Jones - in 1923.
Resuming three clear, he made a 25 footer at the fourth and pitched over water to six feet for another birdie on the long sixth.
But it was at the 354 yard eighth where playing partner Phil Mickelson simply had to stand and applaud.
That was for a 113 yard approach that spin into the cup for an eagle two - and made him the first player in the event to reach ten under in the second round.
It also took the World Number Eight into an almost unimaginable seven stroke lead over the game's greatest players.
And that chasm expanded to eight after he hit his approach to four feet at the 467 yard 14th, to nine when he just missed a ten foot eagle chance at the 579 yard 16th and to ten with a 12 footer on the next.
McIlroy said: "It's been very near the best I can play. The second on the eighth was a bonus, but I hit a couple of iron shots on the back nine that were so pure.
"I'm halfway there, but there's still a long way to go. It's a big challenge, but every time I put myself in position I am becoming more and more comfortable and that's important.
"I felt very much at ease today - you are when you hit so many good shots."
With the disappointing finish he had to wait to see if he had still established a record halfway lead. For the event that was the six that Woods held at Pebble Beach in 2000 - he went on to a record 15-shot victory - and for all Majors it was the nine of Henry Cotton at Sandwich in 1934.
One thing McIlroy would not want to be reminded of, though, was what happened to Gil Morgan at Pebble Beach in 1992.
In a championship that started in 1895 nobody reached ten under until Morgan did it at the third round of his third round.
The American led by seven at 12 under after seven holes of his third round, but then dropped eight shots that day, finished with an 81 and came 13th eight strokes behind Tom Kite.
The slip-up on the 36th hole was the first time he had dropped shots all week.
Of the early starters the next best in the clubhouse were Spain's Sergio Garcia and Americans Zach Johnson and Robert Garrigus on two under, nine adrift.
Five-time runner-up Mickelson would have been alongside them if he had birdied the last - and that after starting the day 62nd - but he also found water and double bogeyed for a 69 and one over total.
Garcia said after his 71: "I don't think I played very good today. I would love to have played much better because three or four under was very possible.
"Rory has just played great - as simple as that. He is a wonderful player and very nice kid. It would be nice for him to win even if Augusta had not happened."
Asked about becoming the championship record-holder McIlroy replied: "I don't know what to say. I have played two really good rounds, but I know I have to play another two really good rounds to win.
"It's mostly to do with my attitude more than anything else. I took a couple of things from the Masters I thought I could incorporate into my game and I'm very happy with the way I'm swinging it.
"At the 18th it looked like a decent enough lie, but I got a bit of grass between the clubface and the ball and it just turned over."
England's Robert Rock, meanwhile, remained in joint tenth place on one under with a 71 - and this after not arriving until 3.30am Thursday having feared he would not be granted a visa in time.
Yang resumed with four pars in a row to remain second on his own at three under, while Luke Donald and Lee Westwood, World Number One and Two, were both three over after Westwood's birdie at the short second.
McDowell, one under when he teed off again, bogeyed the tenth and 11th to drop to one over, the same as Padraig Harrington after his birdie on the third, while Paul Casey bogeyed the 11th and 12th to stand four over.
