Unable to buy a putt his entire front nine, Scott roared to life down the stretch to post a three-under-par 67, converting his share of the halfway lead into a one-stroke buffer on Saturday evening.

“It just was one of those days where the numbers never fell into a great spot to challenge a back flag and risk going over,” Scott said. “We played on a very kind of safe line and centre of the green, which left me a lot of long putts that you don’t always make and just tried to keep hitting good shots.  In the end a couple of opportunities showed up and I took advantage of them.

At 11-under, Scott will duel with Poland's birdie machine Adrian Meronk on Sunday for the Stonehaven Cup after the two highest-ranked players left in the field opened up a gap on the chasing pack.

Meronk bagged nine birdies, including six in the first eight holes, en route to a course record-equalling seven-under 63 at Victoria Golf Club to surge to 10-under.

He had led Scott by two shots before the former World No.1 birdied the 15th, then eagled the last after knocking his second shot to less than three metres.

“I believe I’m going to do it but without using cliches, there’s no point thinking about my winner’s speech right now,” Scott said. “I’ve got a long way to navigate my round, get around the course tomorrow, but I absolutely believe I’m going to do it.”

Meronk made golf history in July when he became the first Polish player to win on the DP World Tour at the Irish Open and will likely enter the record books once again if he crashes Scott's party.

While Scott is chasing an elusive second Open triumph 13 years after his first, Meronk is bidding to complete an extraordinary comeback.

The 29-year-old was four-over-par late in his first round on Thursday before cutting loose.

He has since racked up 19 birdies and an eagle in 40 holes.

RIGHT: Adrian Meronk is lurking after going low on Saturday. PHOTO: WILLIAM WEST/AFP via Getty Images.

After starting the day tied with Victorian David Micheluzzi atop the leaderboard, Scott spent much of Saturday trailing after recording eight straight pars and making a mess of the par-5 9th.

He found the greenside trap with his three-wood second shot, left his next in the bunker and was unable to get up and down to save par.

The bogey dropped Scott to seven-under before he finally collected his first birdie after nailing an approach to tap-in range on the 12th to ignite his round.

Min Woo Lee (65) and Haydn Barron (68) share third at seven-under, four shots behind Scott.

Lee's superb round featuring six birdies and an eagle was marred only by a double-bogey five at the par-3 4th.

New Zealander Josh Geary (69) and Irishman Conor Purcell (66) are in a tie for fifth.

Micheluzzi had a round to forget, his bogey-filled 73 dropping the Melbourne Sandbelt specialist into a five-way tie for seventh at five-under, half a dozen shots adrift of Scott.

It was laborious going on Saturday with the course flooded with 161 players – 71 men, 78 women and 12 All-Abilities competitors.

Scott's three-ball at the historic dual-gender Open needed more than two-and-a-half hours to get through their first nine holes.