Lucas Herbert defied his own low expectations to grab the halfway lead at the Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open.
The Australian admitted he had “hit it all over the place” during practice, but produced a second round 65 to reach 11 under par at The Renaissance Club.
That was one ahead of England's Robert Rock, with Ryder Cup stars and playing partners Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood sharing third on nine under in North Berwick.
“I'm pretty happy,” said Herbert, who carded seven birdies against a single bogey.
“To be honest I turned up here on Wednesday and hit it all over the place. Sort of not really expecting too much the last few days, but it's all come together nicely, and yeah, pretty happy.
“I've given myself a lot of chances, could have easily been another four or five putter if I had have rolled more putts in, but that's just been great, which has taken the pressure off, and I haven't had to get it up-and-down from ball washers to try and save pars.
“There is still a long way to go. Just got to make sure that's my focus for the weekend is that there still is a long way to go.
"Two rounds of level par are not going to get it done unless that weather gets pretty bad, which it might, but I would say I'm still going to have to keep the foot on the accelerator and try and take it pretty low on the weekend because there's some birdies out there.”
Rock's 67 was one of only bogey-free rounds on Friday.
“I kept plodding along, and thankfully with no bogeys, you pick them up every now and again and it adds up to a decent score, doesn't it?” He said.
"I hit a couple iron shots close. I didn't really hole many putts, but yeah, an easier day.”
Poulter added a second round of 66 to his opening 67, while Westwood followed Thursday’s brilliant 62 with a 71.
“It’s nice to be in contention and good to come back, play and support the Tour,” Poulter said.
“It’s great that we have these events on right now, to be able to showcase the Tour a bit and I’m not thinking anything about Saturday bar bringing an umbrella and a pair of waterproofs.
“The weather forecast looks horrific, 20mph winds and a couple of inches of rain. You can be blown off the course easily, but we’re at the right end of the leaderboard to try and batten down the hatches, dig in deep and hold strong as much as you possibly can.”
Westwood made the ideal start to his second round with a birdie on the tenth, his opening hole, but bogeyed the next two and dropped another shot on the par-five 16th before battling back to shoot level par.
“I was actually pleased, really,” the 47-year-old said. “I felt like I didn’t have much go my way.
“I ran a lot of putts close and when I did hit it slightly off line, instead of finishing just in the semi (rough), it would finish in the thickest possible clump I could find.
“I’m pleased that I stuck with my game plan and 71 feels like an all right score. They toughened the course up. They put the flags on the side of hills. The pin positions were noticeably tougher, so I can only apologise to everybody for shooting 62 yesterday!”
