Saturday 9 July 2016 09:46, UK
Alex Noren fired a second round 66 to lead the Scottish Open by a shot from Danny Lee and Eddie Pepperell.
The Swede, who finished in a tie for third when Castle Stuart hosted the Scottish Open in 2013, was one of four players to card a best-of-the-day six-under-par round of 66 to leave himself at eight-under par chasing his fifth European Tour title.
In better scoring conditions than Thursday's testing environments, Noren, starting at the 10th hole, kept a bogey off his card and came home in 31 blows to set the halfway pace, one clear of playing partner Pepperell and Lee, who matched Noren's bogey-free 66.
"I like this place. It's a really fun course to play. Some weeks we play courses where it's tough all the way around and here it's kind of a really nice mix of tough holes and easier ones," said Noren, who finished eighth at last week's French Open.
Five birdies in the space of seven holes helped Noren's round while Padraig Harrington continued his return to form with a three-under 69 to sit just three shots off the lead alongside fellow major champion Graeme McDowell.
Another man returning to form is Italy's Matteo Manassero, who surged into contention for a first win in three years with a 67 to lie two shots adrift of the leader.
Manassero was the youngest winner in European Tour history when he claimed the Castello Masters in 2010 aged 17 years and 188 days and added further titles in each of the next three seasons.
The last of those came in the prestigious BMW PGA Championship in 2013 and helped Manassero reach a career-high of 25th in the world, but the 23-year-old arrived in Scotland a lowly 596th after just two top-10 finishes since the start of 2014.
Manassero, who is chasing a place at next week's The Open as well as the title at Castle Stuart, admitted it became a mental battle to rediscover the kind of form he showed in those early days.
"It has been really hard with a lot of ups and downs, mainly downs," said Manassero, who was just 16 in becoming the youngest winner of the Amateur Championship in 2009 and finished 13th in the Open at Turnberry a month later.
"I was feeling bad on the golf course. Every time I had an important or difficult shot I was missing it because of the (mental) approach. It's something that starts with little things and when you have never really played badly before, it's hard and you keep going down."
Manassero missed 16 cuts in succession from last year's Irish Open and was 893rd in the world rankings following another early exit from April's Spanish Open.
However, he showed signs of improvement the following two weeks in China and finishing 12th in Sweden and 13th in Germany recently confirmed he was back on the right track.
"I found in myself a way to get out of it. It was a slow process, it was not something that clicked and that's probably a good thing because I know why I am playing better and feel better.
"I got a lot of help, people not always cuddling me but telling me off for certain things. You only want cuddles when you don't feel good but it's the only thing you don't need probably."
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