Snedeker has never made the cut in three previous trips to the British Open, though this brand of golf is nothing new. As a rookie on the PGA Tour in 2007, he was 10 under through 10 holes on the North Course at Torrey Pines before having to settle for a 61. He picked up his third win there this year by rallying from a seven-shot deficit on the last day.

''Brandt is a momentum-type guy, once he gets going and starting making putts and hitting shots,'' said Mark Calcavecchia, another player who doesn't waste time. ''He plays quick and he's got the quick tempo and he putts quick. And they go in quick. That's awesome golf.''

What does that get him?

''A whole lot of nothing,'' Snedeker said. ''We've got 36 more holes to go. A lot can happen.''

And that was before Scott, the 32-year-old Australian, began making his steady move up the leaderboard. He bogeyed the third hole for the second straight day, and then turned it around by smashing a 3-wood that bounced off a hillock to the right of the green on the par-5 seventh hole and set up a two-putt birdie. Scott opened the back nine with back-to-back birdies, and then hit two beautiful shots to 8 feet for another birdie on the 18th and a 67.

Scott, who had a 64 on Thursday, has never been in such good shape at a major going into the weekend.

''Why I've played good this week is kind of a culmination of everything I've done over the last couple of years,'' Scott said. ''I feel like this is the path I've been going down, and just happens to have happened here that I've put myself in good position after two days at a major.''

Much like Snedeker, though, he didn't reach much more into it.

''I think you look at the names that are five and six shots back, and it means even less,'' he said.

The biggest name was Woods.