Adam Scott has been the prime mover as the cream rose to the top during a spectacular start to the British Open second round at St Andrews.

Scott continued his stirring fightback after a disastrous opening on Thursday to surge to within two shots of the lead with a masterful seven-under-par 65 - his best ever round in 22 Open appearances.

Chasing a rare Masters-Open at the home of golf double, Australia's former world No.1 vaulted to seven under for the championship after being four over through six holes in his first round.

'It's what I needed,' Scott said.

'As good as the 65 was today, getting back to even was huge yesterday. Obviously after six holes, things weren't feeling particularly good.

'So I'm really pleased with that and I did a lot of good stuff out there today so hopefully more of that on the weekend.'

With barely a breath of air on Friday morning, the Old Course was defenceless as golf's heavyweights attacked the pins and lit up the galleries.

Former world No.1 Dustin Johnson seized the clubhouse lead at nine under with a flawless second-round 67.

Current world No.1 Scottie Scheffler (68) and Englishman Tyrrell Hatton (66) were just one back at eight under, alongside first-round frontrunner Cameron Young - who had an afternoon tee time on Friday.

Fellow American Talor Gooch was two strokes behind with Scott after backing up his first-day 68 with a second-round 69.

Bogey-free in 30 holes, Scott made his run with a burst of five birdies in nine holes mid round, then his seventh of the day at the last after driving the short par-4 and almost draining his eagle putt.

A decade after his heartbreaking collapse at Royal Lytham and St Anne's - when he finished runner-up to Ernie Els after blowing a four-stroke lead with four holes to play - Scott sailed past Australian No.1 Cameron Smith, who also had an afternoon tee slot.

Smith opened with an impressive five-under-67 but was left needing to negotiate the trickier afternoon conditions on Friday to avoid losing touch with the leaders.

Turning 42 on Saturday, Scott predicted he'd need to go low in the second and third rounds to have any hope of breaking Australia's 29-year Open title drought.

That's exactly what he was left doing after reeling off birdies at the third, fifth, ninth, 10th, 11th and 14th and 18th holes.

'Rounds two and three I had to get into double-digits under par to have a chance,' he said after his low round of the tournament.

'The next two rounds I'm probably going to have to try and stretch it up, unless the wind blows, to getting up near 20 (under).

'So it's kind of attack, if you can do that around here.'

Scott's charge left him equal fifth when he signed his card - after starting his round in a tie for 56th and almost propping up the field when he was four over through six holes on Thursday.

But while Scott can still dream of drinking out of the Claret Jug on Sunday night, the golfing gods haven't been so kind to fellow Australian Marc Leishman.

After losing out to Zach Johnson in a three-man playoff at St Andrews seven years ago, Leishman's hopes of penning a fairytale redemption story have ended in despair.

Playing alongside Scott and Johnson for the first two rounds, Leishman is certain to miss the cut after slumping to six over following a 74 to go with his opening 76.