Robert Lewandowski has broken Gerd Muller's long-standing Bundesliga record for goals scored in a single season with his 41st top-flight goal of the campaign in Bayern Munich's win over Augsburg.

Fellow Die Roten legend Muller celebrated 40 goals across the 1971-72 campaign.

But his benchmark has finally been surpassed by the brilliant Lewandowski, who had matched Muller with a penalty last weekend in a 2-2 draw at Freiburg.

Lewandowski's record-breaking moment arrived late on in the 5-2 victory at home to Augsburg, getting the last goal of the game.

For a long period of the game, it appeared as though Lewandowski would fall agonisingly short of sitting out in front on his own.

In total he had 10 shots, six of which were on target, in a game that marked the last of Hansi Flick's tenure as Bayern head coach.

But finally, with the last kick of the game, Lewandowski's moment arrived. The prolific Pole reacted fastest when Rafal Gikiewicz could only parry Leroy Sane's effort, and the striker picked up the ball, rounded the keeper and slotted into an unguarded goal.

Lewandowski removed his shirt in joy then shared an emotional embrace with Flick to celebrate a momentous goal.

Charles Leclerc took pole position for the Monaco Grand Prix in dramatic circumstances as the Monegasque driver crashed while top of the timesheets, bringing an early end to qualifying.

Ferrari driver Leclerc flicked off one barrier and crunched his car into another just as his rivals were building up to challenge his supremacy in the final minute of the session.

Championship leader Lewis Hamilton had to settle for seventh on the grid, a fortnight after registering his 100th career pole.

Leclerc admitted he was worried the impact and the damage to his car may mean its gearbox needs replacing, which would see him given a five-place grid penalty and hand over pole to Max Verstappen.

"I am [worried], but let's see," Leclerc said.

Reflecting on the sudden end to Q3, Leclerc said: "It's a shame to finish in the wall. It doesn't feel the same, but at the same time I'm incredibly happy about my first-time lap.

"The first corner was quite tricky. I didn't do a great first corner, but then in the second and third sector I nailed it. I'm just very, very happy to be on pole.

"It was very, very difficult to manage myself mentally after Q2 – I could feel I was quite emotional in the car, but I told myself, 'now it's Q3 and it's time to put everything together', and I managed to do so."

Behind Leclerc and Red Bull's Verstappen, Valtteri Bottas took third place in qualifying for Mercedes, one spot ahead of Leclerc's Ferrari team-mate Carlos Sainz.

Leclerc might have left his fellow drivers frustrated with the timing of his crash, but the 23-year-old said: "I'm incredibly happy. It's tomorrow that we score points, but I have to say that is a big surprise for everyone to be on pole and in fourth place for tomorrow.

"I've always been very unlucky here, so let's wait and see."

Verstappen may have been primed to snatch pole from Leclerc on his final lap and said: "It was unfortunate, of course, with the red flag. I felt really comfortable. It was all going really well, but of course the red flag ruined the chance for pole, but we'll see.

"You always plan around the best possible strategy and it was working out well – it's just a shame about the red flag."

Leclerc has been on pole seven times previously in his career but has yet to experience any success in Formula One at his home track.

Bottas was another driver frustrated to miss out on a clear final lap.

"For me it's disappointing I didn't get my last run with the red flag, but that's how it is sometimes," Bottas said. "I left everything out there for the last run.

"The first run [in Q3] wasn't enough for pole, but in the second run with the first lap we did I was feeling good, I was quite a bit down on my lap time so I'm gutted.

"I think we made good progress throughout the weekend with the car. We should have had a shot at pole with the last run, so we'll try everything we can tomorrow with the race. It's Monaco; anything can happen."

Fernando Alonso, a two-time former winner of this race, was knocked out in Q1 after managing only the 17th quickest lap.

Alonso, once a Ferrari driver but now at Alpine, said on BBC 5 Live: "Confidence was good. I was able to push the car and extract the maximum. We didn't have the pace. The whole weekend we've been struggling a little with the pace.

"We would have expected more from Monaco on our package but we didn't deliver. The race is going to be difficult, starting at the back, but let's see what we can do."

Lando Norris qualified fifth in the McLaren, but team-mate Daniel Ricciardo was a lowly 12th, while Pierre Gasly also finished ahead of Hamilton, taking sixth place.

Mick Schumacher, whose father Michael won this race five times, suffered a major blow in final practice when his Haas clattered heavily into roadside barriers after emerging from Casino Square.

Schumacher was not injured, but his team reported "chassis damage" to the sorry-looking car and pulled the 22-year-old out of qualifying.

PROVISIONAL CLASSIFICATION

1. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) 1:10.346
2. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +0.230s
3. Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes) +0.255
4. Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) +0.265
5. Lando Norris (McLaren) +0.274
6. Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri) +0.554
7. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) +0.749
8. Sebastian Vettel (Aston Martin) +1.073
9. Sergio Perez (Red Bull) +1.227
10. Antonio Giovinazzi (Alfa Romeo) +1.433

Mauricio Pochettino believes Paris Saint-Germain will be worthy Ligue 1 champions if they leapfrog Lille on the season's final day – and said it would not be a "failure" to fall short.

The head coach, who took over from Thomas Tuchel in January, has seen his team show inconsistent league form, suffering defeats to Lorient, Nantes, Monaco and Lille.

A late-season surge has seen PSG close to just one point behind Lille going into Sunday's final round of games.

The Coupe de France final triumph over Monaco on Wednesday means Pochettino's team already have one major trophy, but the former Tottenham boss wants a double.

"In football you always have to believe. That is the principle we have always had," said Pochettino.

His team travel to relegation-threatened Brest on Sunday evening, while Lille head to Angers, who are safe from the threat of the drop.

"We always think anything can happen and we have to be ready to win in case Lille slip up at Angers which means we will win the league," Pochettino said.

"We believe that good things will happen. Everyone will do their job as well as they can. So we hope to win tomorrow and to also win the title.

"We would be worthy champions, as would any other team that might win it. Whoever wins it will be worthy champions."

Asked whether it might be considered a failure if the Parisians fail to win the title, Pochettino dismissed the emotive term.

PSG have been champions in seven of the last eight seasons, and their budget far exceeds that of any domestic rival.

"At a club like PSG, not winning any of those competitions is always a big disappointment," Pochettino said.

"I don't know if the word failure applies because that has a very strong connotation, but it would be a disappointment rather than a failure.

"It would be disappointing not to win the league, but we are thinking positively and that it may be possible."

PSG also won the Trophee des Champions under Pochettino's watch – beating Marseille in January – having earned their place in that match following a league and cup double last season.

"We hope to win another trophy; it would be our third in five months," Pochettino told reporters in a news conference on Saturday.

"We had a good campaign in the Champions League, reaching the semi-finals, but we were disappointed not to reach the final. I think the squad and players have put in a huge effort to compete in the best way."

The last time there was such a small gap between the top two entering the final round of a Ligue 1 season was way back in 2001-02, when Lens led Lyon by a point but were overtaken on the final day after losing to their title rivals.

That is one positive omen for PSG, with another being that Brest boss Olivier Dall’Oglio has lost on all six previous occasions when he has faced the capital side as a head coach in the league.

Brest's last league win against PSG was a 3-1 success in January 1985. Indeed, Brest have been beaten in their last three Ligue 1 home games against PSG, but they have never lost four in a row at home against a single opponent in the top-flight.

That may need to change for PSG to stand a chance of a final-day turnaround at the top, although a draw would suffice should Lille lose to Angers.

Pochettino expects to be kept informed about Lille's progress but is urging his players not to be distracted.

"I think it will be difficult not to keep tabs on it," Pochettino said. "The most important thing is that the players are fully focused on what they have to do, which is winning the game, so that if something happens in Angers we will not have a problem ourselves.

"What matters is winning and hoping that something goes our way in the game with Lille."

Andrea Pirlo still hopes to stay on as Juventus coach and keep Cristiano Ronaldo at the club as he prepares for Sunday's decisive Serie A clash with Bologna.

Juve sit fifth in the table after 37 matches, a point behind Napoli in fourth and Milan in third, and they know they must win to have any chance of finishing in a Champions League spot.

Pirlo's first season in charge has been difficult. The Bianconeri lost their title to Inter and crashed out of the Champions League to Porto at the last-16 stage.

However, they have still claimed two trophies in 2021, winning the Supercoppa Italiana match against Napoli in January before lifting the Coppa Italia this week after defeating Atalanta 2-1 in the final.

Speculation persists that Juve will look to replace Pirlo before next season, while it has also been rumoured they could sanction the sale of Ronaldo, who has scored 36 goals in all competitions this term.

Pirlo, however, appears eager to keep working with Ronaldo at the Allianz Stadium and improve on his first campaign in the dugout.

"We do this job for the adrenaline that it brings," he said on Saturday. "I want to continue working with this team and this club, but I think that's normal.

"The greatest satisfaction of this season has been the relationship with the boys, who have given me a lot, whilst I haven't liked the results and we didn't reach the set goals.

"I was a winner as a player, I want to be a manager, so I think of this year as an opportunity to improve. I don't think that the club will decide my future on the basis of tomorrow. We'll see what happens.  

"After the Milan game [a 3-0 defeat on May 9], we were 'dead'; now, we are still alive. Let's think about ourselves first, and then see what happens elsewhere. We mustn't have any regrets. There is always pressure, but we are calm and there is enthusiasm."

He added on Ronaldo: "I see Cristiano at Juventus and extremely focused, just as I saw him in the Coppa Italia final on Wednesday."

One figure who is set to leave Juve after this season is Gianluigi Buffon, with the 43-year-old having announced he will not commit to the club for 2021-22.

Pirlo said of his old team-mate: "With Buffon, Juve is losing a monument of football, both on and off the pitch. It's a sad feeling as we have come a long way together. I admire him very much."

Richie Mo'unga plundered a hat-trick as the Crusaders demolished the Reds 63-28 in Brisbane, with the champions of New Zealand swamping their Australian counterparts in Super Rugby Trans Tasman.

In just the second round of the competition, the Canterbury giants showed off their prowess and Mo'unga served up a dazzling offering of his quality.

The All Blacks fly-half was in inspired form from the off, and by the half-hour mark he had already snagged a pair of clinical tries and set up Sevu Reece to dart in for another stunning score. With Cullen Grace also sprinting through for a try, and Mo'unga clinical from the tee, the rampaging Crusaders were 28-0 ahead after just 29 minutes.

Tate McDermott got the Reds on the board with their first try, but the Crusaders kept the points flowing, Reece dashing in at the right corner to increase their lead to 35-7 early in the second half, before Mo'unga got his third try after 55 minutes, dotting down near the posts to allow himself an easy conversion.

A penalty try, accompanied by a yellow card for Harry Hoopert, nudged the Crusaders 49-7 ahead, but curiously the 14-man Reds then enjoyed their best spell, as Harry Wilson and Suliasi Vunivalu scored classy tries to reduce their deficit to 49-21 going into the final 15 minutes.

Hopes of further damage limitation were crushed when Tamaiti Williams powered over and Codie Taylor added another try to emphasise a devastating team performance, before Brandon Paenga-Amosa barged in for a last-gasp consolation.

Luke Jacobson earlier crossed twice as the Chiefs ran in six tries in a 40-19 victory over the Brumbies in Hamilton.

The hosts overwhelmed their visitors, with Jacobson landing a first-half double, collecting from the back of the scrum and crossing from close range each time, and further tries coming from Tupou Vaa'i, Damian McKenzie, Alex Nankivell and Anton Lienert-Brown.

McKenzie booted five conversions, with the result never in doubt. The Brumbies responded through tries from Len Ikitau, Tom Cusack and, right at the death, Rob Valetini.

Wing Bryce Heem grabbed a hat-trick for a rampant Blues side whose second-half dominance secured a 48-21 win against the Waratahs.

Armed with a 22-14 half-time advantage, the Blues raised their game for the second 40 minutes and pulled away, inflicting a 10th straight defeat of the season on the visitors to Eden Park.

Melbourne City celebrated their first A-League silverware as a narrow 1-0 triumph over Central Coast Mariners secured the Premiers Plate amid a dramatic finish at AAMI Park.

Craig Noone's headed effort just shy of the hour was enough to earn City the three points and the trophy with three games to spare, but only after enduring a tense finale.

City thought the points were wrapped up when Jamie Maclaren netted with three minutes to play, only for the hosts' striker to be denied when a VAR check found he had handballed in the build-up when tussling with Kye Rowles.

The Mariners then thought they had a chance to snatch a point in injury time when goalkeeper Mark Birighitti - up at a late corner - won the visitors a penalty.

But once again, VAR intervened with referee Shaun Evans reversing his original call after checking the pitchside monitor, to leave the home fans breathing a sigh of relief and celebrating the confirmation City will finish top at the end of the regular season.

Elsewhere, Wellington Phoenix dazzled on their New Zealand homecoming in a 3-0 win over Western United that keeps them on the coattails of the A-League's top six.

It had been 433 days since Phoenix had played a home fixture at Sky Stadium due to the coronavirus pandemic and a bumper crowd of 24,105 was not disappointed.

Clayton Lewis's deflected 38th-minute opener had Wellington in front at the break and two goals in the space of six second-half minutes from Reno Piscopo and Tomer Hemed had the patient crowd celebrating a comfortable win.

While having the fans back in attendance was a victory itself, the win means Phoenix are just three points shy of Brisbane Roar in sixth with three games to play before the A-League Finals.

LeBron James has compared Chris Paul's basketball IQ with stars Rajon Rondo and Draymond Green ahead of the Los Angeles Lakers' playoffs series against the Phoenix Suns.

The Lakers won through their play-in game against the Golden State Warriors, earning seventh seed and the right to take on the second seed Suns, who are led by experienced point guard Paul.

Four-time NBA champion James has remarkably never faced 11-time NBA All-Star and high school friend Paul in the postseason.

Rondo and Green are widely known for their basketball intelligence and James identified Paul among those lofty standards.

"It's going to be comparable to playing against Rondo in a series, playing against Draymond in a series," James said during a video conference call on Friday.

"You have those out-of-this-world IQ type guys and fierce competitors, at the same time so it's the same thing.

"Every time I faced Rondo in the past, I knew I had to be not only on my A-game as far as my game, but also my mind as well and that's the same with Draymond, every time you go against those Warriors teams.

"I've had experiences with those two guys, so that will definitely help me in matching up with CP [Paul] because I know the competitor and I know the IQ of the basketball player that he is."

The Lakers may be the seventh seed but head into their series with the Suns as the bookmakers favourites, having been 2019-20 champions.

The Suns surprised a lot of people by ending their long playoffs wait and finishing as high as second in the Western Conference.

Suns coach Monty Williams insisted that being considered underdogs did not faze his side.

"We all hear it," Williams said on Friday. "Ultimately you got to get out there and compete for 48 minutes, and that's what we plan to do.

"Did anybody think we were going to win 51 games this year? In a shortened season? Don't think so. So why would we listen to those people now?"

On facing the reigning champions first up, he added: "Our guys aren't bitter. We're looking forward to competing against the Lakers.

"We're not upset or feel like anybody's done something to our Cheerios. We have to go play the Lakers."

Phil Mickelson and Louis Oosthuizen topped a leaderboard filled with major winners at the US PGA Championship, setting up a fascinating weekend at the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island. 

Mickelson started early and roared to the finish, carding five birdies on the back nine on the way to a 69 that left him at five under par for the tournament before Oosthuizen shot 68 in the afternoon for a share of the overall lead. 

Two-time US PGA winner Brooks Koepka (71) was one stroke back after recording a pair of eagles on Friday, followed by 2021 Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama (68) at three under. 

Oosthuizen's fellow South Africans Branden Grace (71) and Christiaan Bezuidenhout (70) also were two back of the leaders. 

First-round leader Corey Conners (75) and 2019 U.S. Open winner Gary Woodland (72) were at two under, with reigning U.S. open champion Bryson DeChambeau (71) dropping back to one under after a bogey on 18. 

Players battled windy conditions throughout the day and had an especially difficult time with the last two holes.

Oosthuizen lost his chance to stand alone atop the leaderboard with a bogey on 18 that ensured no one would post a bogey-free round on the first two days of competition, while Grace dropped three strokes on 17 and 18 to mar an otherwise stellar round.

Rory McIlroy (72) saw a move for contention disintegrate with bogeys on the final three holes that left him eight back of the leaders entering Saturday, and Jordan Spieth (75) was in the same spot after bogeys at 17 and 18.

The four-time major champion Koepka had perhaps the most erratic day of any contender, carding just one birdie to go with his eagles at the seventh and 11th and four bogeys. 

Among the notables missing the five-over cut line by one stroke were Dustin Johnson (74), Sergio Garcia (73), Adam Scott (72) and Justin Thomas.

Former major winners also missing out on the weekend include Zach Johnson (78), Jason Dufner (81), Martin Kaymer (77), Rich Beem (77), Charl Schwartzel (79) and John Daly (86). 

The 2009 US PGA Championship winner, Y.E. Yang, was disqualified after signing an incorrect scorecard but would have missed the cut anyway. 

The play-in tournament may be here to stay with NBA commissioner Adam Silver stating that his personal preference is for it to continue beyond this season.

Teams ranked seventh to 10th in both the Western and Eastern Conference have faced off in the play-in tournament for the seventh and eighth seeds in the 2020-21 season.

The additional spots available for the playoffs added intrigue late in the NBA season, with 24 of the 30 franchises maintaining the possibility of playing in the postseason in the final fortnight.

The play-in tournament has been criticized for being unfair, with Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James publicly vocal in his dislike of the concept.

"Whoever came up with that needs to be fired," James said earlier this month.

But Silver defended the play-in tournament, insisting it added vital viewership interest to the season, given the incentives for teams to compete.

"I haven't made any secret that I want it to be [around long term]," Silver told ESPN Radio.

"I have two constituencies I need to convince of that. One is the 30 teams, and I think for the most part they've supported it. I understand the sentiment if I were a team - a seven-seed in particular - the notion [that] after a long season, you could potentially play out of the playoffs. I understand those feelings.

"I think at the same time, the teams recognize the amount of additional interest we've created over the last month of the season plus those play-in games make it worth it.

"Of course, the other constituency is the players. For example, one player, who is on the executive committee of the union, said to me yesterday that he really likes the play-in tournament but he felt it could potentially be a bit unfair.

"For example, if you were the seventh seed and you were a significant number of games ahead of the eight-seed, the notion that you could somehow lose two games and be out of the playoffs seems unfair."

The sides who finished seventh in both conferences won their play-in games to claim seventh seed, while the Washington Wizards eventually took the eighth seed in the East with victory over the Indiana Pacers after finishing eighth.

The Golden State Warriors, who finished eighth on the Western Conference standings, play the Memphis Grizzlies for the eighth seed in the last play-in game on Friday.

Silver said it is possible that the league will tinker with the current play-in format.

He added: "I'm going to wait only because I know there's people on both sides of it.

"Beyond the individual ratings, and some games have been pretty good and some haven't been as close, but putting aside those games and adding those games to our schedule and the amount of interest in them is where I think the play-in tournament had an impact.

"[It] was causing teams who frankly otherwise may have thrown in the towel some number of weeks back to fight for those last playoff spots."

For the second season in a row, the Los Angeles Clippers and Dallas Mavericks meet in the first round of the NBA playoffs.

It is the same, only different.

A year ago, when the league moved en masse to Florida to finish a season badly disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic, the Mavs went up against a team expected to not only make it beyond the first round, but several more after that.

The Clippers were tested, eventually prevailing by a 4-2 scoreline. However, they fell at the next hurdle, letting slip a 3-1 series lead in the Western Conference semi-finals against the Denver Nuggets. That defeat, and particularly the nature of it, has loomed over them since. Their attempts to bury the memory of such a dramatic collapse begin on Saturday against familiar foes.

Dallas ended the regular season as the fifth seeds in the West, though their 42-30 record was not a huge improvement on a year ago, when a 43-32 finish was good enough to only get seventh spot.

However, since the All-Star break, they have gone 24-14. In Luka Doncic, they have a superstar who has shown little interest in sticking to the schedule, developing at such a rate that, despite averaging 27.7 points per game in his third season, it is perhaps a little surprising he did not force himself more into the MVP conversation.

Doncic had to carry much of the burden against the Clippers a year ago. Kristaps Porzingis' impact diminished due to a knee injury that eventually forced him to miss the final three games. He had also managed to get thrown out in the opener too, having taken umbrage at the attention his young team-mate was receiving to get a second technical foul.

Still, even with a healthy Porzingis available this time around, Dallas will ride or die on the performances of Doncic, whose first playoff experience saw him finish up averaging 31.0 points and 8.7 assists.

Looking back, it seems astonishing that two teams passed up the opportunity to select the dynamic, do-it-all guard in 2018, while a third – the Atlanta Hawks – opted to trade him away to get Trae Young.

At 22, the Slovenian has scored 5,115 points through 199 regular-season games. To put that number into context, LeBron James had 5,097 to his name when he reached the milestone of 200 outings.

Indeed, since 1985-86, the only player to manage 4,000 points, 100 or more assists and hit at least 500 three-pointers though their first 200 games is Damian Lillard – and Doncic is well ahead in all three categories.

His buzzer-beating shot at the end of overtime in the fourth game against the Clippers tied the series at 2-2 in 2020, but that was as good as it got for Dallas. This time around, they hope to make sure the outcome is different.

For that to happen, though, they will have to find a way of keeping quiet a superstar coming off a career year – and whose name is not Kawhi Leonard.

Paul George admitted to finding life difficult in the bubble. "I was just in a dark place," he said after helping the Clippers edge ahead 3-2 in the Dallas series. "I'd checked out. These past couple of games it was just difficult but shout out to the people who stood behind me and were in my corner."

While averaging 18.5 points in the end, he was successful with only 20 of his 69 attempts through the opening four games against the Mavs, including going 2-of-15 from deep in the third and fourth meeting.

This season, however, he has looked far more at home, in more ways than one.

The seven-time All-Star finished the regular season averaging 23.3 points, including shooting an impressive 41.1 per cent from beyond the arc (up on his overall mark of 38.4 per cent). Under Ty Lue, the team as a whole averaged 41.1 per cent from beyond the arc, ranking them first in the entire league.

Leonard remains the number one for the Clippers – he was the only player to average at least 24.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 1.5 steals per game in the regular season – but George will be pivotal to his team's hopes of making a deep run, in the process exorcising their playoff ghosts.

Forget familiarity breeding contempt: these teams getting acquainted again in a seven-game series offers up an absorbing clash where both have a point to prove.

Douglas Costa looks to have played his last match for Juventus – or Bayern Munich for that matter – after agreeing a year-long loan move to Gremio.

The winger is contracted to Juventus through to the end of the 2021-22 sesson but he will spend that time back in his native Brazil, with the club at which he began his career.

Costa, 30, started this season at Juventus but joined another of his former teams, Bayern Munich, on a temporary basis in October and spent the rest of the campaign until now with the Bundesliga giants.

An injury-hit campaign meant Costa was not expected to extend that stay at Bayern, and his loan to the German giants was formally terminated on Friday.

Now the former Brazil international is heading back home, after 11 and a half years in Europe. He was initially acquired by Shakhtar Donetsk from Gremio in January 2010.

Juventus announced on their website: "Douglas Costa has officially signed for Gremio on a free loan from Juventus.

"The Brazilian winger, who joined Juventus back in 2017 and spent this past season on loan at Bayern Munich, will wear the shirt of the Porto Alegre outfit until 30 June 2022."

Costa won a league championship in every season but one of his career in Europe.

He helped Shakhtar win the Ukrainian title every year from 2010 to 2014 before they were denied by Dynamo Kiev in 2015, going on to lift the Bundesliga in 2016, 2017 and 2021 with Bayern, and Serie A in 2018, 2019 and 2020 with Juventus.

Phil Mickelson played himself right into contention to become the oldest major champion in history after taking the clubhouse lead on day two of the US PGA Championship.

The 50-year-old looked in good shape in his first round on Thursday and he went a step further on Friday, finding himself top of the leaderboard having gone around the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island in 69.

It meant the American was on five under for the tournament, and he was leading by two shots shortly after he had finished for the day.

For much of Friday it looked as though Branden Grace was going to be in charge, the South African sitting pretty at six under for the tournament as he stepped up to the tee on the 17th.

But he finished his round with a double-bogey and a bogey as the breezy conditions took their toll on the two holes regarded as the toughest on the entire course, meaning he walked off after his final hole three under for the tournament.

Mickelson had similar issues on the same two holes earlier in the day after starting on the 10th, though the five-time major winner only dropped two shots across the 17th and 18th – it clearly was not enough of a wobble to really impact his mood.

The 2005 US PGA Championship winner has not had a single top-10 finish on the PGA Tour this season, but he has a great chance to end that here.

Opening up on his brilliant start at Kiawah Island, he said: "Physically I've felt as good as ever, I've been able to perform to play the shots, but I haven't been able to be as present or sharp mentally to visualise the shots I want to play.

"Meditation has been a big part of me being able to play the shots I want. It's gotten more difficult as I've got older to focus. Your mind is like a muscle, you have to exercise.

"That's what I've been doing, some days playing [as many as] 40-45 holes to make sure I can concentrate longer than just 18."

Mickelson carded five birdies after the turn, playing a huge role in putting him into contention to surpass Julius Boros as the oldest ever major winner at 48 in 1968.

Additionally, he is the first man aged 50 or over to be in top-five contention after 36 holes at a major since 2013.

His form here is made all the more remarkable by the fact he needed a special exemption to even qualify for next month's US Open, given his current ranking of 115.

"I'm having a lot of fun," he added. "To play well, to know I'm playing well heading into the weekend, to be in contention, to have a good opportunity, I'm having a blast. I'm excited for the weekend."

Ian Poulter looked to be putting himself into contention as well only to fall apart in the latter stages of his round, carding four bogeys in his final five holes – he was previously six under for the day.

Similarly, overnight leader Corey Conners' dropped down to two under for the tournament thanks to a difficult three-over second round.

Meanwhile, world number one Dustin Johnson will almost certainly not be returning on Saturday as he followed up a shocking first day with comparatively poor two over on Friday, leaving him on six over.

Jordan Spieth faces a nervy wait, he sits at four over following a second-round 75.