It was never going to last was it?

September in Scotland was all sunshine, sun specs and sunny dispositions. Yesterday it was semmits, sou-westers and sodden tribulations.

October is here and, as the days shorten to the length of a dispirited sigh, the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship ploughed on in the kind of unrelenting dreichness that would have made a brass monkey weep. The meteorological misery didn't get everybody down, mind you.

"I woke up this morning and thought we would be playing in Armageddon judging by the forecast so it was good to see the weather wasn't as bad," said Chris Doak.

Every cloud has a silver lining, it seems. It was grim but not as grim as originally feared and Doak made hay, even though the sun was completely smothered by water-laden cloud. A spirited five-under 67 at wet and windy Kingsbarns saw him clamber up into a share of sixth place on a seven-under aggregate of 137. That left him two shots behind halfway frontrunner Raphael Jacquelin of France, who leads by one from Irish duo Padraig Harrington and Shane Lowry.

With its colossal prize fund, the Dunhill Links comes along at the perfect time of year for those scrapping to safeguard their place on the European Tour. A big result this week, in an event which offers a first prize of almost £500,000, can change the course of a campaign and Doak could certainly do with pulling something out of the bag.

At 115th on the money list, the 37-year-old is hovering perilously around the trap door but the former Tartan Tour No.1 has more important things to concern himself with these days. The birth of his first daughter, Eva, two weeks ago has given him a spring in the step and a calmness in the mind.

"She's here, she's healthy and it's all about her," said Doak, who withdrew from the first round of the Wales Open a fortnight ago after his opening round to charge back up the road in time for the arrival.

"I know I'm more chilled in myself. Golf is not the most important thing to me any more.

"I can just go out and play and see what happens instead of trying to push it. I've got a picture on my phone. I see her face and I just calm down."

It was calm and considered golf that Doak conjured yesterday as he packed six birdies into a neatly assembled round which hoisted him up among the main movers and shakers.

He was joined on that seven-under mark by his fellow Scot, Richie Ramsay. Like Doak, the 31-year-old Aberdonian was looking on the bright side. "I was up at half three, 4am and I could hear the wind hitting the trees and I thought that today was going to be an absolute battle," he said after bolstering his tally with a four-under 68 at Kingsbarns. "The fact that we thought it was going to be horrific but turned out reasonably OK changed the attitude a bit."

Ramsay is made of stern stuff, of course. Those character-building days when he played in the Scottish Boys' Championship, an event that could often feature the kind of chittering temperatures you'd tend to get in an eskimo's pantry, have toughened him up. He's still not that keen on this kind of attritional golf, mind you. "People believe that I like this weather but that is a myth," added Ramsay, who has finished 17th, ninth, eighth, and fourth in his last four Tour events.

"People think just because you are from Aberdeen you like the cold but I'm like everyone else, I don't like it. I like it when it is 25°C."

Stephen Gallacher, running on empty after a hectic Ryder Cup but now rested and re-fuelled, kept motoring along nicely even if the pace of the play in this pro-am format was as brisk as coastal erosion. A double-bogey six on his 16th hole stalled his advance up the standings but he did repair some of that damage with a birdie on his final hole at Kingsbarns to post a 70 and finish in a share of ninth on 138. "We've all had rain, we've all had wind and we've all had tough courses," said the 39-year-old. "The key is just to stay warm and stay fresh, especially when you're out there for five hours 45 minutes. It's every bit as tiring as last week and it's quite tough to keep concentrating."

With two rounds now to come on the Old Course at St Andrews, Gallacher, the Dunhill Links champion 10 years ago, is enjoying being back at the sharp end of affairs on home soil, whatever the weather.

"It's just great to play these courses and being in contention is where I want to be," he added. "We don't play on these types of courses that often and when you do stand on the tee it gives you the impetus to keep going. I love them."

Lowry tucked himself in behind the leader, Jacquelin, with a 70 at the Old Course while hardy Harrington, who laughed in the face of Mother Nature with just a T-shirt and a sweater, felt he missed an opportunity to grab the tournament by the scruff of the neck with a 70 at Kingsbarns. "It was pretty average and today was a chance to really steal a march on the field," admitted the three-time major champion.