Callum Shinkwin has put himself in contention for another high finish on the European Tour after taking forward strides up the Scottish Open leaderboard in the second round at Castle Stuart.

The Moor Park golfer shot a three-under-par second round of 69 and is currently in a share of 26th place, six shots behind leader Danny Lee and within three of the top ten.

Having qualified for next week’s Open Championship at Royal Troon with a career-high tie for ninth at the Open de France, the Bushey-based player had to settle for a two-over-par 74 opening round in difficult scoring conditions at the Inverness course yesterday.

But the 23-year-old was quickly into his stride this morning and played a fine front nine holes which featured five birdies, the only blip coming with a bogey on the par three fourth.

Shinkwin dropped a second shot of the day at the par four tenth, but moved back to four-under for his round with a sixth birdie at the par five 12th.

He remained on track to finish his round at two-under par, but bogeyed the par three 17th to drop back to one-under.