Justin Walters produced an extraordinary round of eight-under-par 64 on Friday in the second round of the European Tour’s Hero Open at Fairmont St Andrews in St Andrews in Scotland.

He made an eagle, seven birdies and a bogey to go with his opening four-under-par, moving to 12-under for the tournament. And he did it without the blast at the organisers as he go what many have recently complained about – the tougher side of the draw as he battled tough weather conditions.

“There were times when I was feeling as if I got the wrong end of the stick, but I just told myself not to go down that road of self-pity,” he said. “I dug in deep and I just played really solid when I had to.”

That enabled him to beat his half of the draw’s average score by 15 shots. “I don’t really know how it happened, other than really just playing solid golf,” he said. “I putted really well. I just did everything well and the tough holes, I was able to get through them, largely, and the holes you could get after, I did.

“There were a couple of bonuses here and there, but overall, I just held the mental side of my game together consistently. No matter what the shot was, I just approached it the same way, hit it nicely and just committed to everything. When things get really tough, you can’t compute everything down to a fine detail. You just go with a gut feel and commit to that, and at this time, it’s working out really nicely.

“I like to hit the ball low when I need to and I think it does help in harder conditions like this. Links golf helps you to hit it low, and it ran a little bit, especially yesterday. It was all about keeping it under the wind, keeping it in play, and then it’s all about making putts, which is also difficult to do.”

With the weather having delayed the start of the round by over three hours in the morning, it was hard to tell exactly where Walters was going to end up if the round was actually going to be concluded. The afternoon field certainly had things easier, but he was going to be right up there in contention.

It’s sweet justification for someone who puts in the hard yards. “I’ve been working very hard with my whole team and with Edoardo Molinari,” he said. “I came on board with him last year. I think we’re starting to circle the nest. Largely it was putting inside six feet which was really holding me back, and a bit of approach play. I was always really strong off the tee. I’ve been working hard from a technical point of view as well as from the mental side, and it’s starting to pay dividends.”

That 64 in tough conditions certainly is one pretty fine dividend.