Padraig Harrington and Graeme McDowell remain in contention at the Scottish Open as the forgotten man of European golf chases a first win in three years.
Italy's Matteo Manassero was the youngest winner in European Tour history when he claimed the Castello Masters in 2010 aged 17 years and 188 days and added further titles in each of the next three seasons.
The last of those came in the prestigious BMW PGA Championship in 2013 and helped Manassero reach a career-high of 25th in the world, but the 23-year-old arrived in Scotland with just two top-10 finishes since the start of 2014.
Manassero missed 16 cuts in succession from last year's Irish Open and was 893rd in the world rankings following another early exit from April's Spanish Open.
However, he showed signs of improvement the following two weeks in China and finishing 12th in Sweden and 13th in Germany recently confirmed he was back on the right track.
He followed up his Thursday 71 with a five under 67 on Friday to lie two shots behind halfway leader Alex Noren.
Noren shot six under on Friday to sit on eight under at the half-way stage.
Harrington and McDowell have a piece of tied eighth three shots off the lead at five under following identical rounds of 70 and 69 over the two days.
"It has been really hard with a lot of ups and downs, mainly downs," said Manassero, who was just 16 in becoming the youngest winner of the Amateur Championship in 2009 and finished 13th in the Open at Turnberry a month later.
"I was feeling bad on the golf course. Every time I had an important or difficult shot I was missing it because of the (mental) approach.
“It's something that starts with little things and when you have never really played badly before, it's hard and you keep going down."
"I found in myself a way to get out of it," Manassero added. "It was a slow process, it was not something that clicked and that's probably a good thing because I know why I am playing better and feel better.
Five birdies in the space of seven holes helped Noren card a flawless 66 to finish eight under par, a shot ahead of playing partner Eddie Pepperell (67) and New Zealand's Danny Lee.
Manassero shared fourth place with Branden Grace, Richard Bland and Jorge Campillo, with Harrington (above) and McDowell a shot further back.
Noren, who was eighth in the French Open last week, said: "I like this place. It's a really fun course to play. Some weeks we play courses where it's tough all the way around and here it's kind of a really nice mix of tough holes and easier ones."
Michael Hoey just about make the cut on two over, but Paul Dunne, Shane Lowry and Paul McGinley all back their bags having missed the mark.
