After the eye-popping, adrenaline rush of the Ryder Cup last week, things are a little bit more sedate here at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship. “I’ve been sleeping for about 80 per cent of my day,” said Thomas Pieters through a stifled yawn. Funnily enough, some of the stoic spectators watching this prolonged Pro-Am slowly unfold have probably been doing the same.

Apart from a weary double-bogey on the 17th at Kingsbarns, the young Belgian still managed to put in an eye-catching performance as he finished in the upper echelons of the leaderboard at the halfway stage. For Ryder Cup colleague Lee Westwood, meanwhile, it was more a case of eye-watering stuff as he slithered to the very bottom of the standings. A 10-over 82 at Kingsbarns, which was strewn with the debris of a double-bogey, triple-bogey finish, was the Englishman’s worst score on the tour since he crumbled to an 83 during the 2002 US PGA Championship at Hazeltine.

In contrast, Pieters enjoyed a decent enough day in the Kingdom. He was motoring along nicely at six-under for his round through 16 holes but a three-putt on the 17th, which cost him two strokes, took some of the shine off a four-under 68 which left him in a share of sixth on a six-under 138.

That was five strokes off the lead held by Ascot’s Ross Fisher, who clambered his way to the top with a 68 on the Old Course for an 11-under aggregate of 133 and a slender one shot advantage over Sweden’s Joakim Lagergren.

With the kind of chilly, hand-rubbing temperatures that would have made a brass monkey wince, this was a day for long johns and semmits. That was just in the media centre. Out on the parky links, Fisher did his best to warm the cockles with a telling burst of four birdies in seven holes on his front nine as he made an assault on the summit.

With overnight leader Alex Noren struggling to emulate the rousing 64 he posted at Carnoustie in round one – the Swede had to settle for a 71 at Kingsbarns yesterday to finish two off the pace – Fisher’s flurry thrust him to the front and he stayed there despite a trio of bogeys in a topsy-turvy inward half.

The 35-year-old, who was beaten in a play-off to the Dunhill Links title back in 2009, lost in a sudden-death shoot-out a couple of weeks ago for the Porsche European Open crown. He’s certainly found some form of late. He’s also found the birdie trail too. “I think in my last 11 rounds or so I’ve had over 50 birdies so it shows my golf is good,” said Fisher, as he aims for the sixth European Tour win of his career. “It’s another sign that the things I’m working on are finally coming good. Fingers crossed, we can keep it going and be there come Sunday.”

Lagergren, who sits in 97th spot on the money list and could do with a good week to take away any concerns he has of losing his card, produced an eagle and two birdies in a tidy 68 at Kingsbarns to move onto a 10-under tally while his compatriot Noren swiftly repaired the damage caused by a double-bogey six on the fifth with an eagle-two on the next hole. The perspective brought on by parenthood seems to be a useful tool when it comes to dealing with the damaging dunts this fickle game can dish out. “A double-bogey doesn’t seem to hurt as much as it did last year before my daughter was born,” said Noren.

Sitting on the fringes of the top-10 heading into day three is Martin Kaymer, the Dunhill Links champion in 2010. A burst of five birdies in his first seven holes at Kingsbarns certainly aided his challenge as he posted a 68 but while he is chasing individual glory, the team element of this contest is helping to keep the mind calm. “My father has been trying for years to make the cut in the team event and last year I really screwed up and we missed the cut by one,” said Kaymer, who is being partnered by his dad, Horst. “You want to do as well as possible and having people around you that make you feel comfortable brings that bit of calmness.”

If faither doesn’t make the cut this time, perhaps Kaymer will be sent to his Old Course Hotel suite with no supper?