Just a week after it looked like he had made his final competitive farewell to The Open Championship, Scotland’s most successful golfer of the modern era revived his chances of taking part when the event takes place in Northern Ireland for the first time in his lifetime by shooting his best ever round in The Senior Open yesterday.

Sandy Lyle had some fun with the Carnoustie galleries last week as, on completing his second and final round, having failed to make the cut, he took a handkerchief from his pocket and made as if to dry his eyes. However, he admitted there had genuinely been a lump in his throat as he crossed the Barry Burn to walk on to the 18th green having, the previous day, been invited to hit the first shot of the championship in the last year for which his 1985 win had earned him exemption from qualifying.

Victory at The Senior Open would change all that and over The Old Course at St Andrews he served notice of intent as he recovered from Thursday’s 73 to shoot a best round of the day six-under-par 66 and get himself into the mix heading into the weekend.

Even if he was the type to do so – and he could hardly be further from it – Lyle has been around far too long to start getting over-excited when only at the halfway stage of a tournament and, in this particular case, history tells us why.

This is the 10th time he has teed the ball up in The Senior Championship and it will only be the fifth time the 59-year-old has made the cut, while he has broken 70 in only four of his previous 26 rounds. Little wonder that he felt this particular round had been overdue and considered it the most satisfying of the hundreds he has played at the sport’s most fabled venue.

“I knew I needed to shoot under par today to have a chance of making the cut, so that's a good point momentum wise. Now I can look forward to the next two days and hopefully the weather will be kind to us,” he observed afterwards.

As to whether he dare start to hope that he could claim the first win in a senior Major that would carry the bonus of taking him to another Open Championship he added, with good nature: “I’ll keep my tissue in my pocket just to make sure . . . It’ll be lovely if it happens, but we can’t get too far ahead of ourselves at the moment. I’ve had one good round, there’s still two more to go yet, but if conditions get tough it’s all to the good for me.”

On a day made more difficult by a delay to play of more than two hours as a result of the morning’s east coast haar, compatriot Colin Montgomerie also reached the halfway stage on five-under-par, well within striking range going into the weekend, but he was decidedly less satisfied with his effort, reckoning he missed birdie chances at each of the last 10 holes, after recording a four-under-par round of 68.

“I missed them all, so you can’t expect to win if you’re not taking those chances, unfortunately. I need to do better tomorrow, a lot better. That was a low score that was left out there,” he sighed.

“I’ve never played better from tee to green. I hit the ball exactly where |I wanted to at most holes, but didn’t hole out at all. You’ve got to take your chances to win these because unfortunately someone here will and I’ve got to follow suit. I’ve left myself a lot to do.”

He made it clear that his particular concern in that regard related to defending champion Bernhard Langer, winner of a record 10 Major titles on the Seniors tour.

“The German’s just started. The wind usually drops when he starts playing, so let’s hope he gets the wrong end of the draw for a change, eh?” he said of his old friend and foe, tongue firmly in cheek.

The breeze was freshening at that point, but Langer lived up to those expectations, albeit he was out-played on the front nine by one of his playing companions, Tom Watson, and on the way back by the other, Miguel-Angel Jimenez.

With the three-ball finishing a combined 24-under-par for the first two rounds as the last of the light faded with half a dozen groups still on the course, Jimenez came home in just 31 shots on what was, for most of the day, the more challenging back nine to take the lead on nine-under-par, a feat almost as remarkable as Watson matching his age with a round of 68 to finish on seven-under with Langer sandwiched in between them on eight-under.