After providing further evidence that he is remembering how to adjust to links conditions, Martin Laird admitted to fancying his chances of making a run at the Scottish Open title this weekend.

The US-based Glaswegian is, at seven-under, one of the best-placed of the Scots in the pack – level with Craig Lee – and scoring well enough to remain in contention despite not playing well.

"I'm only five back, which is in touching distance," he said. "I hit the ball well yesterday but didn't really make any putts, and today I didn't drive that great and my iron play was pretty bad, so overall seven under is not bad for two rounds. Hopefully today was my off-day and I can have a good weekend."

He acknowledged that it may take some spectacular scoring to claim the title. "The par fives are playing short and the course is kind of there for the taking if it doesn't blow so if it's the same you're probably looking at low 20s [under par]," Laird reckoned. "I'm thinking I've got to shoot 12, 13 or 14 under on the weekend to win if the conditions stay the same. It's out there and I feel like I'm playing well and I putted well today. If I putt like that over the weekend and hit the ball well I can definitely do it."

By contrast Paul Lawrie, the current top Scot in the world rankings 10 places ahead of Laird, was left to bemoan the putting failures that had left him with a nervous wait before finding out that he had just made it through to the weekend. However he, too, demonstrated the way winners think when thrown such a lifeline. "You're eight behind, so a couple of 63s and you can win," he said.

Tied with two more experienced Scots, Helensburgh's Gary Orr and Banchory's Greig Hutcheon, one behind the group including Marc Warren and David Drysdale, and a further shot adrift of Scott Henry, Lawrie admitted to losing patience with his putting despite proving he still knows how to cope with pressure when sinking a vital six-foot birdie putt at the last. "I was thinking the only chance I had was to knock that in and I've hit a nice stroke and it's gone in, but I've missed eight of that distance today, maybe nine," he calculated.

Yet his frustration was nothing to that of Hutcheon, who perhaps best expressed how most of the 10 Scots whose tournament ended last night were feeling. "There's no excuses," he said. "You could have thrown it round in 75 today with no clubs. I can't describe my round without swearing, so there's no point in saying anything. I'm getting some treatment, but the hip is not the problem. The problem is upstairs. I need to get my head sorted before next week. It's a waste of time. I might as well get a job somewhere else if I continue like this."