RETIEF Goosen is not known as a comic, but he is sure he gave his playing partners a laugh at Loch Lomond yesterday by making a total mess of his opening shot.

“A low, thinny one going right – probably not even 180 yards off the tee,” said Goosen, of his three-wood down the tenth.

The South African was the one smiling the most at the end of the Barclays Scottish Open second round, however, after an eight-under-par 63 catapulted him to 11 under at halfway.

Goosen missed out on the course record by only one stroke – as he did not need telling, because he was the one to achieve it back in 1997.

“I’ve shot 62 around here twice, once with placing (in 2001 en route to taking the title) and once without.

“I do like it here. The golf course is fairly generous off the tee – and I’m not one of the straightest hitters.”

As on the opening day, he sank a 20-footer for eagle – making him four under there already this week.

Goosen, a winner in Asia, Africa and America in the last nine months, but not in Europe since the 2005 German Masters, held a two-stroke clubhouse lead over Australian Adam Scott as the round drew to a close.

The double US Open champion, who rescued his par four on the tenth with a 30-foot putt, has a particular fondness for the 518-yard third hole now.

Kenny Ferrie enjoyed a three-under par 68 to put him in seventh spot after Thursday's 67.

The Ashington golfer’s performance leaves him just four shots shy of Goosen.

But after a frustrating few years in which he has struggled for form since winning the European Open, the Ashington golfer is not thinking about glory just yet.

Instead he just wants to concentrate on maintaining his recent good form over the next two days, with an Open place next at Turnberry on offer for the highest placed finisher who has not qualified.

“I am not looking at the leaderboard,” said Ferrie.

“Playing the Open next week would be a fantastic achievement and would be great for me to do. But if I don’t, I don’t.

“I am more interested in trying to get my game back to where it should be and this is a good start. I played lovely golf last week but I just want to finish here in the top ten and see where that takes me.”

Ferrie is the leading Englishman, carding three birdies and an eagle yesterday to make up for his two bogeys.

But Graeme Storm endured a disastrous fall down the leaderboard after a second round that went from bad to worse.

Having started yesterday just one shot adrift of overnight leader Richard Green, Storm’s fall from grace bordered on the embarrassing.

But when it looked as if the 31-year-old would actually miss the cut, he held his nerve to sink a birdie putt at the last to clinch his place in the final two rounds.

Storm had looked destined to battle for his second European Tour triumph after shooting a first round 65, six under, on Thursday.

But yesterday the Wynyard Golf Club pro posted three bogeys in his opening nine, before shooting a further bogey and back-to-back double bogeys inside four holes on the back nine.

But birdies at the sixth and ninth – his round started at the tenth yesterday – left the door open for him to boost his earnings ahead of his outing at next week’s Open Championship.

Storm said: “I have to regroup and make sure I come back with a sub-70 round to get back in the frame.

“This was not what I expected or wanted after such a good start, but things can change very quickly and I have to remain confident and focused.

“I am disappointed with one or two things that happened out there, but I have shot one good round and I know I can shoot another two good ones.

That has to be the aim.”

Barnard Castle’s Robert Dinwiddie also lost his way and missed the cut.

Dinwiddie, whose 68 on Thursday left him in touch with the leaders, posted a 75 yesterday to leave him one over for the tournament.

Lee Westwood, meanwhile, was much improved, both in his golf as well as his health.

Westwood wished on Thursday he had pulled out because of a chest infection. But after a doctor gave him anti-biotics and he slept for 15 hours, he returned to knock seven strokes off his opening 73 – and said it could have been even better.

At three under he was on the same mark as playing partner Rory McIlroy, who called a penalty on himself when his ball moved a fraction after he had addressed it on the eighth.

Even before that the 20- year-old Ulsterman had things go against him at the fourth. When his ball finished in a hole at the base of a tree he felt there was evidence of it being caused by a burrowing animal, but tournament director Mike Stewart ruled that because he could not play a shot from the position he was not entitled to relief.

McIlroy double-bogeyed there but eagled the 13th in a level-par 71.

Ian Poulter, the third member of the group, slipped back to one under with a 72.