Phil Mickelson picked up just where he left off as he extended his lead to five shots on day two of The 145th Open Championship.
The American had set a new course record at Royal Troon and was millimetres from making Major Championship history as he saw a putt for a 62 lip out on the last on Thursday.
The 28th 63 in Major history handed the 2013 champion a three-shot first round lead and he extended that to five as he turned in 33 on the Ayrshire coast.
Søren Kjeldsen and Henrik Stenson had emerged as his nearest challengers at six under, with Martin Kaymer, defending champion Zach Johnson, Keegan Bradley and later starter Patrick Reed a further shot back.
Mickelson's last win was his triumph at Muirfield but he has found some fine form and took his bogey-free run on links to 55 holes after last week's Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open.
He took advantage of the par five fourth and then put his approach on the seventh to four feet before nearly spinning the ball back into the hole on the Postage Stamp for an ace.
The rain then began to pour down as the predicted tougher conditions looked to be arriving for the later starters.
Kjeldsen maintained his 100 per cent birdie record on the par fives this week with gains on the fourth and sixth in his first 11 holes while Stenson had a hat-trick of birdies from the third.
Two-time Major winner Kaymer was level par for his first six holes while Johnson and Bradley had picked up a single stroke early in their rounds.
Andrew Johnston made a bogey-bogey start but picked up four birdies in his next six holes to get to four under at the turn, with Rafa Cabrera Bello and Thomas Pieters also at that mark after early gains.
