Richard Mansell impressed in brutal conditions to grab the halfway lead at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, where Alex Noren and Robert MacIntyre also impressed.
The second round was brought forward and played under a shotgun start due to heavy rain and strong winds along the Scottish coast, with just nine of the 168-man field able to post an under-par total on any of three courses being used for the event.
Mansell posted the lowest round of the day and jumped into a two-shot advantage after a brilliant four-under 68 on the Old Course at St Andrews, mixing five birdies with a lone bogey to move to 10 under, with Noren in second after a brilliant second-round 69 at Kingsbarns.
Beginning on the sixth hole, Mansell birdied three of his opening five holes and added another from 20 feet at the 12th, before carding his lone bogey of the day when he failed to get up and down from the greenside bunker at the par-four 16th.
The Englishman holed clutch par-saves in worsening weather to save back-to-back pars from the third before signing off with a birdie at the par-five fifth to double his cushion over Noren.
"I thought you've just got to trust that you can actually play golf because you can't feel your hands," Noren said. "You can't do anything. Keep the ball low, and even downwind, just keep it low. Don't try to, you don't try to be a hero. It was a very tough round but I felt like that guy in Caddyshack!"
A two-over 74 at Carnoustie leaves Antoine Rozner the best-placed of those in action at that course on Friday, sitting tied-third alongside Niklas Norgaard Moller, while MacIntyre heads into the weekend four strokes back in fifth spot following a two-under 70.
Four consecutive birdies salvage a second successive 71 lifted Billy Horschel to two under and in the same group as Eddie Pepperell, who made a hole-in-one at Kingsbarns' par-three eighth on his way to a second-round 74.
"Definitely I think the worst ever," Pepperell said of the conditions. "I don't think we've ever played in conditions as difficult as that, wind and rain, the combination of the two, for as long as it lasted."
US Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick posted a second successive 71 and Rory McIlroy struggled to a three-over 75 at Kingsbarns to slip back into the group on one under, while Shane Lowry made a quadruple-bogey on the par-three 15th on his way to a seven-over 79.
The golfers will play their final course of the rotation on Saturday ahead of a 54-hole cut, with those who progress then returning to the Old Course for Sunday's final round.
Watch the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship throughout the week live on Sky Sports. Live coverage continues Saturday from midday on Sky Sports Golf.