Darren Clarke carded a three-under 67 at Gleneagles to take the halfway lead in the Senior Open. The 2011 Open champion sat just one behind joint-leaders Stephen Ames and Glen Day overnight but produced a solid round in difficult conditions to edge ahead on eight-under 132.
Clarke, 53, sandwiched a birdie at the fourth with bogeys at the second and seventh on a "slippy" front nine, but matched his inward nine on Thursday with birdies at the 10th, 14th, 15th and 18th.
The Northern Irishman, who holds a two-shot lead over American Scott Parel, said: "Around the front nine today, I was so-so.
I slipped. My right foot slipped a couple of times. But apart from that, I played really nicely. "I'm trying to hit a lot of fairways and give myself decent looks.