Australia's British Open hopes are being blown away in brutal winds at Royal Birkdale.
A spirited Jason Day fell by the wayside while fellow heavyweight Adam Scott hung tough but still finished his second round eight strokes adrift of the lead following a four-over 74.
"It was just difficult. I don't know how else to assess it," Scott said.
"Tough winds for this golf course, too. I know it's allowed to blow a lot around here but, out of the southeast, it made some angles pretty tough, fairways tough to hit.
"It was really challenging out there."
Both stars began the day only four shots off the pace, but Day's six-over-par 76 after he finished six, six, six left the former world No.1 10 strokes behind American clubhouse leader Matt Kuchar.
With the weather deteriorating, Day - at five over for the championship - was still likely to make the cut but needing a miraculous recovery over the weekend to have any chance of raising the Claret Jug.
Day couldn't buy a putt early as he dropped shots on the third, fifth and eighth holes.
The world No.6 was unable to get up and down on the third after finding a trap on three, made a sloppy three-putt bogey on five and missed another short one on eight after leaving his approach well shy of the green.
A great scrambling par on nine appeared to reignite Day as he collected birdies on the 12th and 15th holes to claw briefly back to even for the tournament.
Then he collapsed.
He double-bogeyed the next after needing two out of a bunker and dropped another on the par-5 17th before chalking up another dreaded double on the last and storming to the scorers' hut.
Scott's woes began when he missed a putt inside a metre on the third and another bogey on eight pushed the 2012 Open runner-up back to one over for the championship.
A birdie on the par-4 ninth as Kuchar dropped a shot on the eighth helped Scott's cause heading to the back nine.
But Scott's usually reliable driving and iron play deserted him as he racked up three consecutive bogeys to slump to three over for the championship.
Major championship rookie Andrew Dodt and Rio Olympian Scott Hend - both at two over midway through their second rounds - were jostling with Scott for Australian halfway honours.
Marc Leishman dropped to four over for the tournament after leaking five shots in his first 13 holes, while fellow US PGA Tour star Aaron Baddeley finished at five over carding a 76.
At seven over, Adam Bland (72) and Open rookie Matthew Griffin (77) were both likely to miss the cut, with Cameron Smith (75) a certainty to get the chop after slumping to nine over.
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