Ewen Ferguson said it was "pretty cool" to emulate playing partner and recent house guest Sean Crocker after setting the new course record at Fairmont St Andrews with a spotless 61 on day two of the 2022 Hero Open.
The Scot fired 11 birdies in total, and six in a row from the 11th hole, on Friday to set the new mark before Wilco Nienaber made two eagles and seven birdies in the afternoon to tie Ferguson's record.
American Crocker, who at 15 under par leads the tournament heading into the weekend, had set the previous course record with his 63 on Thursday.
After the duo both missed the cut at last week's Cazoo Classic, Crocker stayed with Ferguson at his house over the weekend.
And being paired together on Thursday and Friday, they were there to witness each other's record-breaking rounds on the Scottish coast.
Ferguson said: "I missed the cut last week despite not playing badly but my head was down because I’d putted badly.
"Sean Crocker came to my house at the weekend to stay and me and him, my brother and a couple of friends had a night out and relaxed, really.
"Then I was drawn with him this week and I think that helped us chill out. He went out and shot a course record yesterday and I must admit I felt extra nerves playing with him today because of that and having a chance to beat it.
"It is pretty cool."
Ferguson's fabulous form on the greens was key to Friday's score and he revealed he had coach Jamie Gough to thank for that.
He added: "I played incredible and putted a lot better than I have been. I’ve been working on that a lot with my dad and Goughie to try and get the stroke right because the tempo was out.
"I still couldn’t get it then I woke up this morning feeling knackered and with not much hope because the scoring had been so low.
"But Goughie came up to me with a piece of string that he put on the ground and told me to start hitting putts.
"I kept pulling it and he was telling me ‘you are aiming left’ and I could see the line on my putter was aiming left.
"So he got me to put my hands forward and, though I felt it was abnormal, he took a video and I could see it actually looked normal and I started banging them in.
"That gave me a bit of hope on the greens when I headed out and I holed a good one for par on the tenth then another good one for a birdie on the 11th. I could feel it suddenly."
Fellow home favourite Scott Jamieson added a second-round 64 to Thursday's 66, taking him into the weekend on 14 under and without a single bogey on his card.
He said: "I’ve been really good tee to green.
"Yesterday was a good start, would never turn my nose up at six under but it felt like I’d left a lot out there.
"Today was better, I took advantage of some chances. It’s that kind of course, if you’re playing well you will give yourself a lot of chances. You’ve got to stay patient."
