Two days after appearing to suffer from an attack of the 'yips', Ernie Els surged into contention for his first European Tour title in two years in the Alfred Dunill Links Championship.
Els missed from a matter of inches during his first round of 72 at Carnoustie and a 67 at Kingsbarns on Friday left the four-time major winner six shots off the overnight lead shared by Walker Cup star Jimmy Mullen and Anthony Wall.
However, while Mullen and Wall had to tackle Carnoustie on Saturday, usually the toughest of the three courses used for the pro-am event, Els was playing the Old Course at St Andrews and took full advantage.
Birdies on the third, fifth, seventh, eighth and ninth took the 45-year-old South African to the turn in 31 and, at 10 under par, just one behind Mullen, Wall, Thorbjorn Olesen, Jamie Donaldson and American Chris Stroud.
Making his professional debut after winning all four of his matches in Great Britain and Ireland's record Walker Cup win in September, Mullen had recovered from a bogey on the second with a birdie on the next.
Source: PA
