Kevin Kisner took advantage of warm and still conditions at St Andrews to surge up the Open Championship leaderboard, as low-scoring at St Andrews looked set to be order of the day.
American Kisner needed two birdies in his final three holes on Friday to reach level par, the cut mark, and he capitalised on an early tee time on day three to card nine birdies in a seven-under 65, moving at least briefly into the higher reaches of the leaderboard.
American Trey Mullinax and Italian Francesco Molinari also went low with six-under 66s, after both began on level par, while South African Dean Burmester had a 67 to reach five under through 54 holes.
Bryson DeChambeau was also surging into contention, reaching six under for his round through 13 holes, helped by an eagle at the ninth.
That put him alongside Kisner on seven under for the tournament, with Tommy Fleetwood joining them after picking up four shots through his first six holes.
Kisner, 38, proudly held the clubhouse lead and told Golf Channel the conditions had been ripe for going low.
"It was very benign earlier, hole locations a little more accessible and not playing as much wind as we've had the last two days, with it being pretty warm too," Kisner said.
"So the ball was going pretty far, and it felt like you were aiming right at the flag for the first time all week."
The afternoon forecast was for slightly stronger winds, with the possibility of showers, but the Old Course was giving the players great scoring opportunities and that looked set to continue, even if Kisner hoped a storm would brew up.
"I hope the winds blows like hell, and they can all shoot over par and I have a chance tomorrow, but I think there's a lot of birdies out there," Kisner said.
"The guys are really good golfers. Hopefully, they don't get too far away, and I can still have a chance."
Australian Cameron Smith held the lead through 36 holes on 13 under par, putting him two ahead of American Cameron Young, with Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy and Norway's Viktor Hovland one back on 10 under.