Bradley Dredge fired the low round of the week at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship and then admitted he had no idea how he had managed it.
The Welshman opened his week with a 73 at Carnoustie but, when faced with the less testing layout at Kingsbarns in the second round, he went 10 shots better to catapult himself to eight under and within three shots of the lead jointly held by Jimmy Mullen and Anthony Wall.
The 42 year old has been a European Tour regular since 1998 and the two-time winner admitted he was at a loss to explain how his performances can vary after a round containing two eagles and five birdies.
"I've been playing golf a long time and haven't got a clue anymore," he said.
"It was a bit of a tougher course yesterday, yesterday nothing went in. I got off to a slow start yesterday and then started playing nicely and just kept parring holes and not really doing anything.
"You come to today and I was three under after three, I hit some good shots and got off to a really good start and just kept going from there. And when I did get in trouble on two occasions, I made good par saves."
Dredge is 97th on the Race to Dubai having secured just two top tens this season and is hoping to get a good result to secure his place on the European Tour next term.
"I hate to focus on the card thing but I knew it was going to be a tough year for me with a couple of issues," he said.
"You try to focus on Race to Dubai but I thought it was going to be a good effort for me to keep my card."
Nick Dougherty knows about the effort needed to keep your card having not held one since 2011 but the popular 2007 champion here rolled back the years with a 67 at Kingsbarns containing six birdies and an eagle.
The 33 year old is a two-time winner on the European Tour but admits not playing regular tournament golf can be a hindrance to his form.
"It's lovely coming back because I know I've played well," he said.
"Sometimes, the way I've felt like I've played over the last few years, it's hard to remember how I played and how I managed to actually win this in 2007.
"My game feels in great shape, I'm playing nicely. I think the hard thing for me is coming to a tournament and being able to use all the great stuff I've done in practice.
"I'm swinging it better than I ever have done but I turn up and it feels a bit unusual to me because I haven't been a proper Tour player in quite a few years now."
