One trait that is immensely important to a professional golfer is the ability to put the past, especially recent history, into the nether regions of the brain's grey matter. In short, a capacity to forget can be a big help.

Before receiving a sponsor's invite to play in the megabucks Dunhill Links, Peter Lawrie had missed the cut in four successive tournaments and it seemed his season was in danger of going into free-fall.

Where others would have worried and fretted they were in a slump, Lawrie hauled himself back to where be believes he belongs. He visited his coach Brendan McDaid in Rathsallagh - "We worked on my alignment, I was getting ahead of the ball a little bit, " explained the Dubliner - and he also visited his sports psychologist, Dr Aidan Moran, in UCD.

The physical and mental therapy has worked a treat. Over the past two days, firstly on the Old Course and yesterday at Kingsbarns, Lawrie has played some of the best golf of his season. Yesterday he added a 68 to his opening round 67 to lie on nine-under-par 135 at the midway stage and in a share of the lead.

The pro-am format works for some players, and not for others. Lawrie, though, has used it to his benefit; and playing in the team event with Marie Jordan, the wife of Formula One boss Eddie, has taken his mind off focusing on his own game to an excessive extent. "I was a right ratty bugger on Wednesday evening because I was a little nervous about this tournament. But Marie is a lovely lady and she helps me relax on the golf course. She plays well too, she's a very good player."

Part of the pressure Lawrie felt coming into the championship was that his ticket to the Volvo Masters in Valderrama in just over a month's time was slipping from his grasp. Only the top 60 players on the Order of Merit get to play in the season-ending tournament and Lawrie had dropped to 52nd in the money list in recent weeks. Another little matter is he is in contention for "rookie of the year", but he insisted: "It would be a lovely bonus at the end of the season, (but) I don't want to get ahead of myself and start thinking of such things."

In his leisurely way, Lawrie played lovely golf yesterday. "I love links golf. It makes you think on every shot, and you're not simply standing up there and hitting it. On these courses, you tend to steer the ball away from trouble. There's a lot of holes out there with the sea on the right and the course on your left, and you just ensure you hit it into dry land."

If anything, Lawrie - who missed just two greens in regulation - could have had an even better day, as he failed to take some chances. But he wasn't greedy. "I can't complain," he said, "because I'm pretty well placed overall."

His round was kick-started into life by a bogey (his first of the championship), on the fifth where he duffed a sand-wedge approach. However, he recouped the shot when, on the 337 yards par four sixth hole, his drive found a greenside bunker and he played out to 12 inches. Further birdies followed on the ninth, 10th and 12th before arguably the best of the lot came on the 17th, a par four of 474 yards.

There, Lawrie was faced with an approach of 230 yards to an elevated green - and he used every ounce of his strength to get the green. Not only did he find the putting surface, but the ball finished five feet from the hole. Lawrie finished the job by rolling the putt in. The job half-done, Lawrie's third round will find him at Carnoustie today - he played a practice round there with Padraig Harrington on Tuesday - and, barring an unmitigated disaster, he'll find himself back at the old course tomorrow.

Instead of worrying about making cuts, he should find himself in the hunt for the title itself.