Tied for 11th after opening with an even-par 70, Scott will tee off in the second-to-last group in Round 3 on Saturday after refusing to yield ground for a second straight day.

The only player in the field without an over-par round through the first two days, Scott’s 70 on Friday consisted of three birdies, three bogeys and 12 hard-earned pars, putting him just three back of 36-hole leader Sam Burns (65) in a tie for fourth.

Playing in his 96th consecutive major championship, the 2013 Masters champion has hit 27 of 36 greens in regulation at the halfway point to build belief that experience may be his greatest asset over the weekend.

“I’m playing old-man-par golf at the moment,” Scott joked.

“I guess I would have expected to be in this position if you said even par through two rounds.

“It’s just hard out there. It’s hard to keep it going when guys have got on a run.  It seems like they’ve come back a bit.

“I’d be pretty proud of winning this thing on the weekend. Right now, that’s really what I’m here to do.

“I feel like there’s probably not been many signs to anyone else but me the last month or six weeks that my game is looking better. But I definitely feel more confident than I have been this year.

“I feel like this is what I’ve been working towards. I was kind of in the mix late at the PGA, and now kind of putting myself in this one for the weekend.

“It’s a long way to go, but I feel like my game is in good enough shape to do this.”

The 44-year-old’s second shot into the 1st flirted with the right edge of the hole as he began day two with a birdie from six feet, ceding that shot and one more with back-to-back bogeys at 4 and 5.

He started the back nine as he did the first by holing a birdie putt from 22 feet at the par-4 10th but dropped a shot when he failed to get up-and-down from the greenside bunker at the par-3 13th.

Scott took advantage of the short par-4 14th to make birdie and get back square with the card, securing his 70 with three par putts from four feet and one from 13 feet at 17 that elicited a subtle fist pump.

Fellow Queenslander Jason Day revitalised his hopes of a second major with a 3-under 67 made possible, in part, by a DIY putter adjustment.

Now 3-over for the championship, Day revealed post-round that he made an unconventional change to his putter after Round 1, his 27 putts in Round 2 six less than was necessary on day one.

“I bent my putter. I just manually bent it myself,” Day replied when asked whether he had made any changes between rounds.

“Stood on it. That’s kind of how I used to do it back in the day.

“It just hadn’t been looking very good to me personally. Kind of looks a little bit hooded, the grip is on a little bit closed too, so that’s not a positive for me.

“I bent it enough to make it look more open, which is good.”

Six-over when he teed off early on Friday, Day took one step back before taking two steps forward.

The 37-year-old made bogey on 10 after missing a par putt from four feet but hit 3-wood from 330 yards to 20 feet at the par-5 12th as he became the first player to eagle the hole for the week.

He followed that with a perfectly executed birdie at the short par-4 14th and took advantage of another short four, the 305-yard 17th, to play the back nine in 3-under.

A visit to the famed ‘church pews’ led to a dropped shot at the par-4 3rd but the former world No.1 hit back with a superb shot to five feet at the par-3 6th followed by a birdie putt from 24 feet at the par-4 7th.

A final tangle with the gnarly rough left of the fairway led to a closing bogey at the par-4 ninth but Day did enough to believe he is now back in the championship.

“It was a big day to come back and shoot 3-under to make the cut,” said Day.

“I feel like you’re going to make bogeys out here and try and get the birdies when you can.

“Three-over right now, if I can just keep climbing the leaderboard, get into contention on Sunday that would be great.”

Kiwi Ryan Fox shot 73 on Friday to be tied 36th heading into the final two rounds, Marc Leishman (75) and Cam Davis (73) joining Scott and Day in advancing to the weekend.