Lawrie had a three-under-par 69 for an eight-under aggregate of 136 at the halfway stage of the Johnnie ­Walker Championship to lead by two shots over the PGA Centen­ary Course at Gleneagles from a group of three players including the Northern Irishman Jonathan Caldwell whose 66 was the best of the day.

Among those on Lawrie’s tail was Olazabal who had a 68 to lie three adrift. The 40-year-old Scot played under the captaincy of the Spaniard in this year’s Royal Trophy defeat to Asia and has also played under the Montgomerie 
stewardship in the Seve Trophy and Mark James back in 1999 in the Ryder Cup at Brookline.

“I would have to say that Ollie was outstanding,” he said. “It’s just a pity the Europeans played poorly and the Asians played well. It’s not for me to tell Colin what to do, but I would have him there is some capacity.”

Lawrie is another who has been mentioned in despatches 
as a possible Montgomerie aide next year at Celtic Manor in Wales, but he deflected the suggestion pointing out that there had been no conversation on this subject between him and the captain.

Olazabal, too, was non-committal. “He will have to make these decisions and I will live with them,” he said.

With qualifying starting next week, the Ryder Cup promises to be a side plot to every tournament between now and next August when the team will be finalised back here at Gleneagles.

Montgomerie has said he could have as many as four vice-captains and among others in the frame are Paul McGinley, Thomas Bjorn, Ian Woosnam and, at least until that spat during the Open, Sandy Lyle. Because there is a possibility some could be challenging for places in the team as players, the decision is likely to be left as late as possible.

Lawrie, who is less than two months into a new coaching relationship with Bob Torrance, 
has avoided his bad shot of old – the hook – this week and continued to enjoy consistency from the tee in a round highlighted by a 40-foot putt for a 2 at the short fourth.

The two-time Masters champion Olazabal, 43, has been suffering from a rheumatic condition and it is four years since he tasted victory, but there was no sign of such rust when he opened with a salvo of five birdies in his first six holes before covering the remainder in one over.

Montgomerie was in ­danger of missing a fourth cut in a row for the first time in his career after an opening 76, but improved by eight shots to qualify for weekend action, right on the mark of level-par 144, for the first time since the Scottish Open.

“I hit all 18 greens in regulation. That’s as good as it gets, and I holed four putts,” said the eight-time European No.1. “That’s the way I used to play and if you have four rounds like that you’re 16 under and you win the tournament.”

The 46-year-old reckoned that he had made the mistake of striving for more length in the first round and that was why he had lost two balls whereas yesterday he concerned himself with hitting fairways and greens.

Out of the 23 Scottish starters only seven survived, the others being Clydebank-born Alan McLean with a 73 for 142, Steven O’Hara (76), Richie Ramsay (73), Chris Doak (72) and Gary Orr (71) all on 144.

Alastair Forsyth, Marc Warren, Scott Drummond, Andrew Coltart and Callum Macaulay, all missed out by a single shot.

The top 65 and ties qualified for the weekend. They had been exactly joint 65th until England’s Gary Lockerbie, in the second last group, birdied his last hole to knock all five down to 66th and out.