Just as he did when he took third place two years ago at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship - in only his second professional event - Rory McIlroy tamed one of the toughest holes in golf on Friday.

And this time his birdie three on the famous Road Hole 17th at St Andrews helped the prodigiously talented 20-year-old into a share of the halfway lead.

McIlroy, needing a top-two finish to go top of the European money list, is alongside fellow Northern Irishman Michael Hoey and Scot Richie Ramsay on 11 under par after a superb 65.

And what made it extra special was the fact that he is competing in the celebrity pro-am with dad Gerry, 50 this coming Monday.

After three-putting the 16th for what was his only bogey on the opening two days McIlroy had his father come over to him to say: "You've finished 3-3 before, so why not do it again?"

The Dubai Desert Classic champion was already thinking the same, hit a drive and seven-iron to 15 feet, made the putt and then smashed another drive onto the 18th green 350 yards away - something he had never done before - and two-putted.

There is a lot at stake this weekend - not least a first prize of more than £485,000 - but before transferring to Kingsbarns for the third round McIlroy added: "I think playing with my Dad will be a great distraction.

"Growing up I never thought he'd be able to walk up the 18th at St Andrews with me in this big a tournament. It's fantastic."

Four off the lead at the start of the day, but given a chance to take over at the top with Thomas Bjorn adding only a 74 at Carnoustie to his 64 at Kingsbarns, McIlroy birdied the third and then eagled the 568-yard fifth with a five-wood to 12 feet.

Three more birdies were to follow before his stumble three holes from home, but that was quickly forgotten.

Ramsay, called into the event late last week on the withdrawal through injury of Paul Casey, shot 66 at St Andrews, while Hoey had the same score at Carnoustie.

A top 10 finish on Sunday will secure Ramsay's card for next season, but the former US Amateur champion can aim higher than that - and he has already taken the opportunity to blast those who knock the current state of Scottish golf.

Their highest-ranked player in the world is Gary Orr at 140th, but they are the current world and European amateur champions and they were World Cup winners two years ago.

"In America the positive attitude they have is unbelievable, whereas Scottish scepticism can creep in and it's a difficult thing to fight," he said.

"It's almost like some people are waiting for you to trip up. I think we've got to be a lot more positive.

"Okay we're waiting for somebody big to come along, but we should be proud of what we've achieved."

Hoey, winner of the Portuguese Open in April, had a double bogey and bogey in his opening 67 at Kingsbarns, but did not make a mistake over the most difficult of the three courses and eagled the 514-yard 14th.

One stroke behind are another Scot Alastair Forsyth, who last week in Estonia qualified for the World Cup with David Drysdale, English pair Simon Dyson and Ross McGowan and Finland's Mikko Ilonen, like Hoey a former British amateur champion.

Ryder Cup trio Oliver Wilson, Darren Clarke and Paul McGinley are all at eight under and Luke Donald only one further back.

That promised to be even better when, playing with ex-footballer Jamie Redknapp, he covered the first 14 holes at St Andrews in eight under.

Then came bogeys at the 15th and 17th, but he did birdie the last to match McIlroy's 65.

Bjorn dropped all the way back to 20th on six under, but is still two ahead of Lee Westwood and Padraig Harrington.

The crowd that followed Colin Montgomerie also saw a three on the Road Hole. Not from the Ryder Cup captain - he double-bogeyed it and on one over is in severe danger of missing the 54-hole cut - but from his amateur partner Tim Henman.

The former Wimbledon semi-finalist is now a scratch-handicapper at Sunningdale and he and Montgomerie are 13 under par in the team event.

That, though, puts him only joint 43rd - and only the top 20 pairs go through to Sunday's final round on the Old Course.

Australia's former Test captain Steve Waugh, playing off a nine-handicap with compatriot Scott Strange, leads at 21 under and had five gross birdies himself in their staggering better-ball 58 at Kingsbarns.

The remarkable one-legged golfer Manuel De Los Santos is still on course to make the cut with England's Richard Bland.

After a 66 at Kingsbarns they went three better at Carnoustie to be in a tie for 13th on 15 under.

Collated second round scores & totals in the European Tour Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, St Andrews, Carnoustie & Kingsbarns, Fife, Scotland (Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 72):

St Andrews:

133 Richie Ramsay 67 66, Rory McIlroy 68 65

134 Mikko Ilonen (Fin) 70 64, Simon Dyson 68 66

136 Oliver Wilson 69 67, Paul McGinley 69 67, Darren Clarke 68 68

137 Luke Donald 72 65

138 Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 71 67, Danny Willett 71 67, James Kamte (Rsa) 69 69, Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa) 70 68

139 Marc Warren 70 69, Lee Slattery 68 71

140 Robert Rock 72 68, Paul Waring 71 69, Soren Hansen (Den) 71 69, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 73 67, Alvaro Quiros (Spa) 72 68, Lee Westwood 73 67, Padraig Harrington 70 70

141 Daniel Vancsik (Arg) 70 71, Brad Faxon (USA) 74 67, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 74 67, Simon Wakefield 69 72

142 Joakim Haeggman (Swe) 73 69

143 Christian Cevaer (Fra) 74 69, Brett Quigley (USA) 72 71, Ross Fisher 72 71, Robert Dinwiddie 72 71, Benn Barham 75 68, Gregory Havret (Fra) 73 70

144 Gary Orr 73 71, Ernie Els (Rsa) 72 72, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 70 74, Adam Crawford (Aus) 74 70, Simon Khan 74 70

145 Anton Haig (Rsa) 73 72, Jean Hugo (Rsa) 76 69, David Howell 77 68, Colin Montgomerie 73 72, Joost Luiten (Ned) 73 72, Robert Karlsson (Swe) 76 69, Richard Finch 71 74, Michael Jonzon (Swe) 72 73, Miles Tunnicliff 74 71

146 James Kingston (Rsa) 72 74, Nick Dougherty 78 68

147 Sam Hutsby 77 70, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 80 67, Shiv Kapur (Ind) 73 74, Thomas Levet (Fra) 74 73

149 Phillip Archer 78 71, Pablo Larrazabal (Spa) 74 75

152 Thomas Aiken (Rsa) 78 74

153 Simon Griffiths 79 74

Carnoustie:

133 Michael Hoey 67 66

135 David Dixon 68 67, Kenneth Ferrie 69 66

137 Steven O'Hara 71 66

138 Thomas Bjorn (Den) 64 74, Francois Delamontagne (Fra) 71 67, Graeme Storm 69 69, Johan Edfors (Swe) 70 68, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 67 71

139 Richard Bland 72 67, Graeme McDowell 69 70, Gareth Maybin 66 73, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) 70 69, Brett Rumford (Aus) 68 71, Alessandro Tadini (Ita) 69 70, Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 68 71, Sam Little 68 71, Jyoti Randhawa (Ind) 67 72

140 Gary Lockerbie 69 71, Alexander Noren (Swe) 72 68, Keith Horne (Rsa) 70 70

141 Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg) 70 71, Jamie Donaldson 73 68, Richard Green (Aus) 72 69, Mark Foster 71 70, Bradley Dredge 72 69

142 Damien McGrane 71 71, Iain Steel (Mal) 68 74

143 Gary Murphy 71 72, Magnus A Carlsson (Swe) 72 71, Rafael Echenique (Arg) 68 75, Peter Hedblom (Swe) 72 71, Peter Lawrie 73 70

144 Alvaro Velasco (Spa) 69 75, Jeppe Huldahl (Den) 67 77, Chris Gaunt (Aus) 74 70, Luke Goddard 75 69, Oliver Fisher 69 75, Oskar Henningsson (Swe) 72 72, Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra) 70 74, Mark Murless (Rsa) 71 73, Barry Lane 71 73, Ashley Hall (Aus) 72 72

145 Callum Macaulay 72 73, Niclas Fasth (Swe) 72 73, Alejandro Canizares (Spa) 71 74

147 Michael Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 73 74, Phillip Price 76 71, Scott Arnold (Aus) 70 77, Marcus Fraser (Aus) 72 75

148 Seung-yul Noh (Kor) 76 72

149 Martin Erlandsson (Swe) 75 74, Jean Van de Velde (Fra) 73 76, Branden Grace (Rsa) 74 75, Pablo Martin (Spa) 74 75

152 Gavin Dear 76 76

Kingsbarns:

134 Alastair Forsyth 70 64, Ross McGowan 66 68

135 Jose Manuel Lara (Spa) 67 68

136 Peter Hanson (Swe) 72 64, Wade Ormsby (Aus) 70 66

137 Wallace Booth 72 65, Paul Broadhurst 70 67

138 Carlos Del Moral (Spa) 69 69, Dale Whitnell 69 69, Graham Delaet (Can) 70 68, Chih-bing Lam (Sin) 69 69

139 Francesco Molinari (Ita) 71 68, Alan McLean 71 68, Jarmo Sandelin (Swe) 70 69, Markus Brier (Aut) 69 70, David Lynn 73 66

140 Hennie Otto (Rsa) 70 70, Steve Webster 72 68, Scott Hend (Aus) 69 71, Keir Mcnicoll 68 72, Marc Cayeux (Zim) 70 70

141 Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 70 71, Marcel Siem (Ger) 70 71, David Horsey 70 71, Gonzalo Fdez-Castano (Spa) 70 71

142 Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra) 72 70, Daniel Chopra (Swe) 72 70, David Drysdale 75 67, Christian Nilsson (Swe) 72 70, David Gleeson (Aus) 78 64, Stephen Dodd 74 68, Tano Goya (Arg) 73 69

143 Paul Lawrie 75 68, Pelle Edberg (Swe) 72 71

144 Robert Jan Derksen (Ned) 75 69, Chris Wood 73 71, Andrew Coltart 73 71, Scott Strange (Aus) 73 71, Scott Drummond71 73, Mads Vibe-Hastrup (Den) 72 72, John Bickerton 74 70, Kane Webber (Aus) 71 73

145 Taco Remkes (Ned) 74 71, Shane Lowry 74 71, Bryce Molder (USA) 74 71

146 Jake Roos (Rsa) 74 72, Seve Benson 76 70

147 Mikael Lundberg (Swe) 77 70, Adam Blyth (Aus) 73 74

148 Mark Brown (Nzl) 76 72

149 Felipe Aguilar (Chi) 73 76, Adilson Da Silva (Bra) 75 74, Maarten Lafeber (Ned) 71 78

150 Anthony Summers (Aus) 78 72, Terry Pilkadaris (Aus) 75 75, Peter O'Malley (Aus) 76 74