Teenager Matteo Manassero, twice a winner on the European Tour already, is in the hunt for another victory - and a place in The Open - after a 64 in Inverness on Friday.
With fellow Italian Francesco Molinari able to follow up his first-round 62 with "only" a 70, Manassero's scintillating seven birdies in the last nine holes brought him only one off the lead in the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open at Castle Stuart.
The Tour's youngest-ever champion could qualify for Royal Lytham next week with a top five-finish, but his sights are on emulating what German Marcel Siem did at the French Open last Sunday by winning to earn his spot.
"The Open is on my mind and this is my last chance," said the 19-year-old from Verona, who stands 11 under par at halfway.
Molinari had a triple-bogey seven on the 464-yard seventh to allow Swede Alex Noren to join him out in front after a second successive 66 the day after his 30th birthday and the day after his girlfriend Emelie won an event in Norway.
Argentina's big-hitting Ricardo Gonzalez is joint-third with Manassero, while world number one and defending champion Luke Donald's 68 means he has only three shots to make up and Phil Mickelson's 64 brought him just five back.
With 2009 winner Martin Kaymer alongside Donald and Padraig Harrington six under, the final 36 holes has all sorts of possibilities still.
Ernie Els survived with nothing to spare at four under - only two off the lowest-ever cut on the circuit - and it will be a weekend without Tom Lewis, Paul Casey, Paul Lawrie and Colin Montgomerie.
Lewis, the amateur star of last year's Open, will not be at Lytham after his miserable recent run continued with rounds of 73 and 72 for one over par.
Montgomerie finished one under and Lawrie two under, but Casey looks no nearer finding his old form.
A week after finishing joint last in Paris he had only three of the 156-strong field behind him after back-to-back 76s.
He has made only one cut since dislocating his shoulder snowboarding in Colorado last Christmas Eve and trying to change that in The Open is now asking a lot for the former world number three.
Manassero finished a brilliant 13th at Turnberry three years ago and adds: "I would really love to be in The Open. I like links golf and it has a special atmosphere."
Molinari stated: "Following a 62 is never easy. I tried to do the same, but I knew it was going to be hard."
He and his young fellow countryman were at the same Italian restaurant on Thursday night and followed that with a trip to McDonalds for ice creams.
Now they are rivals for a first prize of over £416,660 and a title won by Molinari's brother Edoardo two years ago.
Big things were expected of Noren when he won in Wales and in his home country last season, but he has not had a top-five finish since October and is trailing way behind in the Ryder Cup race.
"I think I'm not going to be on top at the end of the day," he said at lunchtime. But he was wrong.
There was a hole-in-one at the 168-yard 11th for the second day running. England's Andrew Johnston won 168 bottles of champagne for being the first and Scot Peter Whiteford had to settle for one magnum.
Big things were expected of Noren when he won in Wales and in his home country last season, but he has not had a top-five finish since October and is trailing way behind in the Ryder Cup race.
"I think I'm not going to be on top at the end of the day," he said at lunchtime. But he was wrong.
There was a hole-in-one at the 168-yard 11th for the second day running. England's Andrew Johnston won 168 bottles of champagne for being the first and Scot Peter Whiteford had to settle for one magnum.
"I'll have a word - maybe he can give me a couple," said Whiteford, who shot 65 to move to eight under.
Manassero is not the only 19-year-old to make it through.
Scottish amateur Jack McDonald, playing in the final group of the day, chipped in at the par-five last to earn himself another two rounds on his Tour debut.
Collated second round scores & totals
(Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 72):
132 Francesco Molinari (Ita) 62 70, Alexander Noren (Swe) 66 66
133 Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg) 69 64, Matteo Manassero (Ita) 69 64
134 Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia (Ind) 67 67
135 Thomas Aiken (Rsa) 68 67, Anders Hansen (Den) 68 67, Martin Kaymer (Ger) 67 68, Matthew Baldwin 67 68, Peter Lawrie 66 69, Anthony Wall 67 68, Shane Lowry 66 69, Thorbjorn Olesen (Den) 70 65, Alejandro Canizares (Spa) 64 71, Luke Donald 67 68
136 Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind) 66 70, Peter Whiteford 71 65, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 65 71
137 Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 65 72, Steve Webster 69 68, David Howell 70 67, Robert Coles 66 71, Phillip Price 68 69, Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel) 68 69, Simon Dyson 68 69, Pablo Larrazabal (Spa) 67 70, Phil Mickelson (USA) 73 64, Marc Warren 68 69, Andrea Pavan (Ita) 70 67, Richard Green (Aus) 68 69, Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 68 69, Thomas Levet (Fra) 68 69
138 Alex Haindl (Rsa) 70 68, Ross Fisher 68 70, George Coetzee (Rsa) 69 69, David Lynn 71 67, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) 68 70, Lee Slattery 71 67, Andy Sullivan 69 69, Joel Sjoholm (Swe) 70 68, Fredrik Jacobson (Swe) 66 72, Andrew Marshall 66 72, Martin Laird 68 70, Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa) 70 68, Padraig Harrington 69 69, Henrik Stenson (Swe) 69 69
139 Andrew Johnston 69 70, Robert Jan Derksen (Ned) 71 68, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 69 70, Oscar Floren (Swe) 67 72, James Morrison 72 67, Jose-Maria Olazabal (Spa) 69 70, David Dixon 68 71, Tim Sluiter (Ned) 73 66, Alastair Forsyth 71 68, Fredrik Andersson Hed (Swe) 71 68
140 Mikael Lundberg (Swe) 72 68, Branden Grace (Rsa) 72 68, Steven O'Hara 69 71, Jose Manuel Lara (Spa) 68 72, Felipe Aguilar (Chi) 69 71, Daniel Denison 70 70, Ernie Els (Rsa) 70 70, Niclas Fasth (Swe) 70 70, Marcus Fraser (Aus) 69 71, Chris Wood 68 72, David Horsey 68 72, Marcel Siem (Ger) 71 69, Maarten Lafeber (Ned) 68 72, Rhys Davies 72 68, Jack Mcdonald 70 70, Richard Wallis 72 68, Tjaart Van Der Walt (Rsa) 70 70, Stephen Gallacher 68 72, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 69 71, Jbe Kruger (Rsa) 72 68, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 73 67
The following players failed to make the cut
141 Craig Lee 70 71, George Murray 72 69, David Law 72 69, Gary Orr 68 73, Christian Nilsson (Swe) 68 73, Julien Guerrier (Fra) 69 72, Aaron Baddeley (Aus) 69 72, Emiliano Grillo (Arg) 70 71, Romain Wattel (Fra) 70 71, Fabrizio Zanotti (Par) 73 68, Lorenzo Gagli (Ita) 71 70, Bradley Dredge 70 71
142 Richard Bland 71 71, Carlos Del Moral (Spa) 72 70, Jorge Campillo (Spa) 70 72, Ricardo Santos (Por) 74 68, Darren Fichardt (Rsa) 72 70, Scott Jamieson 69 73, Brett Rumford (Aus) 72 70, Gary Boyd 72 70, John Rollins (USA) 74 68, Tommy Fleetwood 70 72, Paul Lawrie 73 69, Paul McGinley 71 71, Bernd Wiesberger (Aut) 69 73
143 James Kingston (Rsa) 73 70, Mikko Ilonen (Fin) 72 71, Colin Montgomerie 71 72, Estanislao Goya (Arg) 71 72, Matthew Zions (Aus) 74 69, Lloyd Kennedy 70 73, Oliver Fisher 69 74, Kevin Na (USA) 69 74, David Drysdale 70 73, Federico Colombo (Ita) 73 70, Markus Brier (Aut) 72 71, Reinier Saxton (Ned) 76 67, Sam Little 73 70, Sandy Lyle 70 73, Gregory Havret (Fra) 75 68
144 Thomas Bjorn (Den) 74 70, Richard McEvoy 74 70, Julien Quesne (Fra) 72 72
145 Damien McGrane 73 72, Tom Lewis 73 72, Warren Abery (Rsa) 71 74, Angel Cabrera (Arg) 70 75, James Byrne 71 74, Victor Dubuisson (Fra) 72 73, Graeme Storm 72 73, Johan Edfors (Swe) 73 72, Thomas Norret (Den) 71 74, Mark F Haastrup (Den) 74 71, Keith Horne (Rsa) 74 71, Rich Beem (USA) 68 77, Mark Foster 71 74
146 Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra) 74 72, Paul Waring 68 78, Knut Borsheim (Nor) 72 74, Andres Romero (Arg) 74 72, Jaco Van Zyl (Rsa) 75 71, Kenneth Ferrie 70 76
147 Richie Ramsay 72 75, Andrew Dodt (Aus) 72 75, Simon Thornton 74 73, Simon Lilly 71 76
148 Michael Jonzon (Swe) 73 75
149 Joakim Lagergren (Swe) 72 77, Peter Hedblom (Swe) 72 77
150 Gareth Maybin 73 77, Edouard Dubois (Fra) 76 74
151 Brian Soutar 75 76
152 Paul Casey 76 76, Jamie Moul 78 74, Richard Finch 71 81, Benjamin Hebert (Fra) 77 75
153 Stephen Gray 78 75
155 Michael Stewart 80 75
157 Sam Hutsby 78 79
