• Scottish Open

Rose in the hunt at Royal Aberdeen

Justin Rose is one shot off the pace at Royal Aberdeen © Getty Images

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Justin Rose put himself firmly into contention at the Scottish Open on Friday, carding a 68 to finish five under par and just one shot off the lead.

His efforts put him into fourth place, while Scotland's Marc Warren followed up his opening-round 67 with a 69 to share the lead with Kristoffer Broberg and Ricardo Gonzalez.

"I came here on Wednesday and felt absolutely horrendous," said Rose, who won at Congressional a fortnight ago. "It was like I had lost my game somewhere over the Atlantic, but the last couple of days I have been finding my feet again and that's part of the reason for playing this week ahead of Hoylake.

"It was great to see the course in a completely opposite wind. The par-fives are playing very easy on the front nine and there are some tough par fours on the back nine. I did well to hang on to my score on the back nine and made a few good six or seven-footers coming in."

Rory McIlroy had set a course-record at Royal Aberdeen on Thursday with a round of 64 but his challenge faltered as he went 14 shots worse in his second round with a seven-over 78.

A 70 from England's David Howell also has him in the hunt in fifth place on four under

Six-time major winner Nick Faldo had birdied the fourth and fifth and holed from 40 feet for an eagle on the sixth before dropping four shots in five holes from the eighth to eventually card a second consecutive 73 and finish four over.

Defending champion Phil Mickelson and Luke Donald hit rounds of 73 to finish one and two-under respectively, while Ian Poulter's triple-bogey seven on the 18th saw him miss the cut along with Lee Westwood.

Tommy Fleetwood's back-to-back 70s have him in a share of eighth place alongside Donald and Paul Casey (71).

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