Tyrrell Hatton contnued his love affair with the Scottish coast as he battled tough, blustery conditions to take a one shot lead into the weekend at the 2021 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.
The Englishman is a two time winner of this event and he followed up an opening 64 at Carnoustie Golf Links with a grinding 70 at Kingsbarns to get to ten under.
That left him one shot ahead of countryman Daniel Gavins - who shot a 68 at Carnoustie - and two clear of another Englishman in Danny Willett and China's Li Haotong.
An eight under par total means that two time European Tour winner Li looks certain to make the cut for the first time this season, having already proved his links prowess when finishing third at The Open Championship in 2017.
But the headlines belonged to Hatton, who shook off the disappointment of a Ryder Cup defeat to find his brilliant best in Scotland.
The 29-year-old claimed his first two wins at this event in 2016 and 2017 before going on to seal four Rolex Series victories, two Ryder Cup appearances, a win on the US PGA Tour and a spell in the top five of the Official World Golf Ranking.
But through all of that he is unlikely to have faced a tougher test than the first two days this week, tackling Carnoustie and then Kingsbarns in very high winds.
The conditions made under par scores a valuable commodity and Hatton was delighted to get round in 70.
"I'm happy with how I scored," he said. "It was really tough out there. It was quite easy to make mistakes, very easy to hit bad shots.
"I guess I was fortunate at times where when I did hit a bad shot, I didn't end up in too much of a dodgy position. I was able to get it on to the green.
"If you do get it on the green, you then are in for a two putt to be honest, anything outside 20 feet, you just want to roll it up close and get out and get to the next hole.
I'm happy with how I fought out there today in tough conditions
"I'm happy with how I fought out there today in tough conditions."
Hatton turned in level par from the tenth as he bogeyed the tenth, 13th and 16th but hit back on the 12th, 14th and 18th.
That had him in a share of the lead before back-to-back birdies on the sixth and seventh moved him clear.
Gavins has not recorded a top 35 since winning a maiden title at the ISPS HANDA World Invitational presented by Modest! Golf Management at the start of August but has found his form again in some style this week.
He sandwiched a bogey on the 11th with a pair of birdies and added an eagle on the par five 14th and a birdie on the fourth.
Li followed up his stunning 64 on day one with a level par 72 at St Andrews, cancelling out four bogeys with four birdies to almost guarantee his first made cut in 14 starts on the 2021 Race to Dubai.
Willett is a Masters Tournament and two time Rolex Series Champion but he is looking for a first top ten of the season and put himself in an excellent position at Kingsbarns.
The 33-year-old turned in level par from the tenth but started the front nine birdie birdie eagle and, while he made a double bogey on the sixth, he hit back with a third long putt of the day on the ninth in a 69.
England's Tommy Fleetwood is a two time runner up at this event and he carded a 71 at Kingsbarns to sit at seven under alongside Dane Jeff Winther, who also got round Kingsbarns in one under.
Major Champion Shane Lowry was then four shots off the lead alongside fellow Irishman John Murphy, Scot Ewen Ferguson, England's Oliver Fisher, Dane Nicolai Højgaard, Australian Deyen Lawson, Swede Alex Noren, Italian Renato Paratore and Frenchman Matthieu Pavon.
