Martin Watt
BBC Sport Scotland at the Renaissance Club

Brilliant birdie from Calum Hill!

The Scot hoists his putter into the air and takes the acclaim from the galleries after finding the bottom of the cup with a monster effort from the back of the 17th green.

He moves to three under, where playing partner Ryan Gerard remains after finishing off a delightful chip.

Freddy Schott pars the ninth to finish on a high of sorts.

He made a triple-bogey eight at the seventh and bogeyed the eighth during a round he will want to quickly forget.

It's an 85 for the 25-year-old.

For those of you wondering, the highest ever score in a PGA Tour event is 123 - made by American Mike Reasor in 1974.

Tommy Fleetwood and Matt Fitzpatrick fire their drives down the par-four 16th, leaving them relatively comfortable second shots.

Both find rough on either side of the fairway, but neither seems to be in too bad a position.

However, Scottie Scheffler's ball takes a turn into a deep bunker on the fairway.

Rasmus Hojgaard is playing a brilliant round of golf here.

In the more difficult afternoon conditions, he nearly holes out from the rough at 13 and taps in for birdie.

He joins the leaders at five under.

At the par-three 15th, all three find the green, giving them all a decent enough look at another birdie.

No advantage is seized, though, as they all walk off with a par each.

Martin Watt
BBC Sport Scotland at the Renaissance Club

This group all have a bit of a bedraggled look about them as they reach the par-three 17th.

Scotland's Connor Syme has a ropey lie in the rough and dunts a wedge that gives him a tricky par putt he fails to drain.

Billy Horschel and Sungjae Im both avoid further damage in a punishing day.

Image source, Getty Images

Jon Rahm continues to struggle round Renaissance.

A bogey at the 11th means he has a huge task on his hands if he is to make the weekend.

Scottie Scheffler watches his birdie putt go close, but not close enough, and he has to walk up and tap in for par.

Will Matt Fitzpatrick or Tommy Fleetwood leave the 14th with a birdie?

Nope. Pars for all.

They now head for The Thistle, with packed grandstands ready to roar.

With his second into the par-four 14, Matt Fitzpatrick bounces one off the flagstick.

Thankfully, he doesn't pay too heavy a price as it stays pin high on the green.

Tommy Fleetwood and Scottie Scheffler both follow him, with solid approaches landing on the green.

Andrew Novak has a great chance to join the clubhouse leaders at five under, but his birdie putt drifts wide of the hole.

He looks exasperatedly towards his caddie, but that's a very solid round from the American.

Tommy Fleetwood and Scottie Scheffler both watch their birdie putts rise over the ridge, turn towards the hole, slow their roll... and fail to drop.

Matt Fitzpatrick then walks up and drops in a birdie putt. Tee shots into the fairway are overrated, clearly.

Fleetwood and the world number one tidy up for par.

Martin Watt
BBC Sport Scotland at the Renaissance Club

Exasperated Jon Rahm drops an F-bomb as his par putt on 11 fails to drop.

His second shot proved costly, leaving him shortsided front left of the green with a bunker to chip over.

Alex Fitzpatrick also squanders a shot, missing from shortish range.

In contrast, Rasmus Hojgaard rolls in beauty of a birdie from about 40 feet to reach four under.

Tommy Fleetwood and Scottie Scheffler find the fairway on the par-four 13th, but Matt Fitzpatrick is 50 or so yards behind them and in the thick rough.

He does admirably to muscle it out and drop it pin high, mind you.

Fleetwood and Scheffler can't get inside his ball despite hitting from the fairway, as they both watch their approaches skid back down a pronounced ridge on the green.

Rasmus Hojgaard has dealt with these hard and fast conditions expertly.

Another birdie putt drops and the Dane gets to four under.

A par on 12 for Matt Fitzpatrick, likewise for Scottie Scheffler.

An opportunity missed or a par saved?

Tommy Fleetwood walks off with a birdie. That's more like it.

From the fairway bunker, Scottie Scheffler is forced to aim a bit further left than he'd like, and the ball can only go 130 yards further down the fairway.

Matt Fitzpatrick is in the same bunker but closer to the lip and can only play sideways back onto the fairway.

The approach from Tommy Fleetwood sails over all the trouble but fizzes through the green, coming to rest on the short stuff on the other side of it.

Both Scheffler and Fitzpatrick find the green with their third shots.

It's not to be for Rasmus Hojgaard on 10 as his squirrely downhill putt trundles wide.

Pars for each of this trio to start the back nine.

Rasmus Hojgaard has just skelped his drive 396 yards on the 10th. Yes, 396 yards.

It is wind assisted, and kicked like a mule on the increasingly baked fairway, but still, what a swipe.

It leaves the Dane just 74 yards to the pin - can he capitalise?

And can Jon Rahm stem the bleeding after a bogey on nine took him to the turn on four over? We shall soon find out.

Some respite after the tricky 11th, as the 586-yard par-five 12th is playing as the easiest hole on the course today.

Scottie Scheffler and Matt Fitzpatrick may dispute that point, though, as they watch their tee shots trundle into a bunker.

Fairway for Tommy Fleetwood.

Image source, Getty Images

Genuinely delighted for Freddy Schott, who has had no joy up to this point.

A magnificent shot at the par-three fifth - his 14th - finishes three feet from the hole and he knocks in the putt for birdie.