Ryder Cup winner Tyrrell Hatton is just a shot off the lead as he looks to become the first player since Tiger Woods to win the same European Tour event for three years in succession.
Hatton carded a second round of 66 in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship at Carnoustie, traditionally the toughest of the three courses used for the £3.8million pro-am event.
Four birdies and an eagle from six feet on the par-five 14th gave Hatton a halfway total of eight under par, with Denmark's Lucas Bjerregaard and Italy's Andrea Pavan setting the pace on nine under thanks to rounds of 65 and 63 respectively at Kingsbarns.
Padraig Harrington leads the Irish charge - he posted a second round of 72 around Carnoustie, his level par round leaving him on three under par for the tournament.
Paul McGinley is a shot further adrift after he shot 73 round Carnoustie on Friday. Shane Lowry is well off the pace on three over par after a second round of 75, with Graeme McDowell and Paul Dunne on five over par and seven over par for the tournament respectively.
Hatton was part of Europe’s triumphant side at Le Golf National in Paris last week where Woods, who won the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational from 2005 to 2007, failed to secure a point from four matches.
“I enjoy this event, I’ve got good memories here and I’m just trying to put up as good a defence as possible,” said Hatton, who is now 55 under par for his last 10 rounds in the event.
The 26-year-old Englishman admitted on Thursday that the Ryder Cup celebrations were “messy” and ended with him falling asleep next to the toilet in his hotel room at 4am, but added on Sky Sports: “It’s a lot different this week.
“Last week you have so much adrenaline and such an atmosphere to play in and this week is the other end of the scale. The crowds aren’t too big here. It’s a much more relaxed style of golf, we’re playing with the amateurs and we have a good time which is what this week is all about.
“And we got Carnoustie on a nice day today, which helps a lot. This is the toughest of the three courses, especially when the wind blows so we are all fortunate to get pretty calm conditions.”
Austria's Matthias Schwab and Australia's Marcus Fraser are alongside Hatton on eight under, with Ryder Cup team-mate Tommy Fleetwood two shots further back after a 67 at Carnoustie.
Fleetwood's record-setting partner in Paris, Francesco Molinari, is not in the field but the Italian's brother Edoardo is just four shots off the pace following a 66 at St Andrews.
American Tony Finau, who beat Fleetwood 6&4 in Sunday's singles at Le Golf National, is also five under, while team-mate Brooks Koepka is seven shots off the lead on two under.
Collated second round scores & totals in the Dunhill Links Championship (Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 72)
St Andrews (Old Course):
136 Marcus Fraser (Aus) 68 68, Matthias Schwab (Aut) 69 67
137 Mikko Ilonen (Fin) 74 63
139 Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 73 66
140 Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 72 68, Darren Fichardt (Rsa) 77 63
141 Richard Bland 72 69, Matthieu Pavon (Fra) 74 67
142 Richard McEvoy 76 66, Nacho Elvira (Spa) 75 67
143 James Marchesani (USA) 75 68, James Morrison 73 70
144 Jordan Zunic (Aus) 73 71, Sam Horsfield 74 70, Matthew Jordan 77 67, Clement Sordet (Fra) 74 70, Christiaan Bezuidenhout (Rsa) 74 70, Julien Guerrier (Fra) 74 70, Soomin Lee (Kor) 77 67
145 Deyen Lawson (Aus) 76 69, Robert Rock 76 69, Maximilian Kieffer (Ger) 75 70, Norman Xiong (USA) 76 69, Callum Shinkwin 78 67, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 73 72
146 Adrien Saddier (Fra) 75 71, Adam Bland (Aus) 75 71, Kyle McClatchie (Rsa) 76 70, Richard T Lee (Can) 77 69, Gregory Havret (Fra) 74 72, Aaron Rai 78 68
147 Jaco Ahlers (Rsa) 77 70, Simon Dyson 76 71, Hideto Tanihara (Jpn) 73 74, Scott Jamieson 76 71, Paul Peterson (USA) 76 71, Sebastien Gros (Fra) 73 74, Ryan Evans 78 69, Oliver Farr 72 75
148 Jason Norris (Aus) 76 72, Ricardo Gouveia (Por) 79 69, Romain Wattel (Fra) 78 70, Ken Duke (USA) 73 75, Pedro Oriol (Spa) 76 72, Kim Koivu (Fin) 74 74
149 Harry Ellis 76 73, Liam Johnston 77 72, Austin Connelly (Can) 80 69, Gavin Green (Mal) 77 72
150 Jorge Campillo (Spa) 74 76
151 Daniel Brooks 79 72, Jens Dantorp (Swe) 78 73
152 Bradley Dredge 79 73
153 Jaco Van Zyl (Rsa) 81 72, Ajeetesh Sandhu (Ind) 82 71
159 Pelle Edberg (Swe) 84 75
Carnoustie:
136 Tyrrell Hatton 70 66
138 Tommy Fleetwood 71 67
139 Tony Finau (USA) 73 66, Stephen Gallacher 71 68
140 Marcus Kinhult (Swe) 70 70
141 Peter Hanson (Swe) 70 71, Matt Kuchar (USA) 73 68, Padraig Harrington 69 72
142 Brooks Koepka (USA) 70 72, Tom Lewis 71 71, Brandon Stone (Rsa) 71 71, Paul McGinley 69 73
143 Jason Scrivener (Aus) 71 72, Richie Ramsay 73 70, Andrew Sullivan 72 71, Ross Fisher 75 68, Ernie Els (Rsa) 72 71, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 74 69, Jin-ho Choi (Kor) 69 74
144 Haotong Li (Chn) 75 69, Lasse Jensen (Den) 72 72, Jake McLeod (Aus) 74 70, Jordan Smith 73 71, Pep Angles (Spa) 75 69, Benjamin Hebert (Fra) 72 72, Thomas Pieters (Bel) 73 71
145 Thomas Aiken (Rsa) 74 71, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 72 73, Alejandro Canizares (Spa) 74 71, Sam Locke 73 72, Matthew Fitzpatrick 76 69
146 Scott Hend (Aus) 74 72, Chase Koepka (USA) 79 67, Alexander Bjork (Swe) 74 72, Martin Kaymer (Ger) 75 71, Luke Donald 75 71, Eddie Pepperell 75 71, Sam Brazel (Aus) 74 72
147 Marcel Siem (Ger) 72 75, Shane Lowry 72 75, Branden Grace (Rsa) 73 74, Andrew Dodt (Aus) 74 73, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Spa) 70 77
148 Mike Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 77 71, Louis Ger Jager (Rsa) 74 74
149 Ockie Strydom (Rsa) 73 76, Graeme McDowell 77 72, Jacques Kruyswijk (Rsa) 77 72
150 Oliver Gillberg (Swe) 76 74, Alvaro Quiros (Spa) 74 76
151 Jeunghun Wang (Kor) 77 74, Paul Dunne 78 73
152 David Howell 77 75
154 Zac Blair (USA) 73 81
156 Ulrich Van Den Berg (Rsa) 81 75
157 Jean-Paul Strydom (Rsa) 78 79
Kingsbarns:
135 Lucas Bjerregaard (Den) 70 65, Andrea Pavan (Ita) 72 63
137 Ashley Chesters 73 64
138 Ryan Fox (Nzl) 71 67, Peter Karmis (Rsa) 71 67, Lee Slattery 71 67
139 Matt Wallace 68 71, Oliver Bekker (Rsa) 71 68, Alexander Levy (Fra) 71 68
140 Lucas Herbert (Aus) 70 70, Renato Paratore (Ita) 72 68
141 Matthew Southgate 73 68, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) 72 69
142 Freddie Jacobson (Swe) 76 66, Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel) 72 70, David Lipsky (USA) 73 69, Chris Paisley 72 70, Oliver Fisher 73 69
143 Tapio Pulkkanen (Fin) 76 67, Jamie Donaldson 76 67, Justin Walters (Rsa) 73 70, Wade Ormsby (Aus) 75 68, Thomas Detry (Bel) 72 71, Doug Ghim (USA) 74 69
144 Robin Dawson 74 70, David Drysdale 73 71, Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 75 69, Jonathan Thomson 75 69, Scott Fernandez (Spa) 77 67, Pablo Larrazabal (Spa) 75 69
145 Phachara Khongwatmai (Tha) 69 76, Steven Brown 75 70, Laurie Canter 76 69, Zander Lombard (Rsa) 77 68
146 Chris Wood 76 70, Adrian Otaegui (Spa) 77 69, Michael Hoey 74 72
147 Marc Warren 75 72, Chris Hanson 79 68, Connor Syme 72 75, Carlos Pigem (Spa) 78 69
148 Robert Karlsson (Swe) 74 74, Brett Rumford (Aus) 76 72 JC Ritchie (Rsa) 76 72, George Coetzee (Rsa) 76 72
149 Haydn Porteous (Rsa) 77 72, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 83 66, Richard Sterne (Rsa) 74 75
151 Joakim Lagergren (Swe) 74 77, Nino Bertasio (Ita) 73 78
152 David Horsey 77 75, Erik Van Rooyen (Rsa) 81 71
153 Dean Burmester (Rsa) 80 73, Daniel Im (USA) 75 78, Matteo Manassero (Ita) 78 75, Bradley Neil 75 78
