Matteo Manassero in contention for first title since 2013 at Scottish Open

The forgotten man of European golf surged into contention for a first win in three years in the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open.

Italy's Matteo Manassero was the youngest winner in European Tour history when he claimed the Castello Masters in 2010 aged 17 years and 188 days and added further titles in each of the next three seasons.

The last of those came in the prestigious BMW PGA Championship in 2013 and helped Manassero reach a career-high of 25th in the world, but the 23-year-old arrived in Scotland a lowly 596th after just two top-10 finishes since the start of 2014.

A change of technique in pursuit of more length off the tee was initially to blame for the slump in form, but Manassero admitted it then became a mental battle to rediscover the kind of form he showed on Friday with a 67 to lie two shots behind halfway leader Alex Noren.

"It has been really hard with a lot of ups and downs, mainly downs," said Manassero, who was just 16 in becoming the youngest winner of the Amateur Championship in 2009 and finished 13th in the Open at Turnberry a month later.

"I was feeling bad on the golf course. Every time I had an important or difficult shot I was missing it because of the (mental) approach. It's something that starts with little things and when you have never really played badly before, it's hard and you keep going down."

Manassero missed 16 cuts in succession from last year's Irish Open and was 893rd in the world rankings following another early exit from April's Spanish Open.

However, he showed signs of improvement the following two weeks in China and finishing 12th in Sweden and 13th in Germany recently confirmed he was back on the right track.

"I found in myself a way to get out of it," Manassero added. "It was a slow process, it was not something that clicked and that's probably a good thing because I know why I am playing better and feel better.

"I got a lot of help, people not always cuddling me but telling me off for certain things. You only want cuddles when you don't feel good but it's the only thing you don't need probably.

"It's exciting, of course, being up on the leaderboard and when it's by playing well and not just by scrambling well or by some sort of escape, it's even more exciting and I'm happy."

Five birdies in the space of seven holes helped Noren card a flawless 66 to finish eight under par, a shot ahead of playing partner Eddie Pepperell (67) and New Zealand's Danny Lee.

Manassero shared fourth place with Branden Grace, Richard Bland and Jorge Campillo, with Padraig Harrington and Graeme McDowell a shot further back.

Noren, who was eighth in the French Open last week, said: "I like this place. It's a really fun course to play. Some weeks we play courses where it's tough all the way around and here it's kind of a really nice mix of tough holes and easier ones."

Pepperell had missed the cut in three of his last four events but has started to feel the benefit of working with a new US-based coach he has never met in person.

"It's a guy called Dave Wedzik who I went with because he works with Bradley Dredge and I was so impressed with how well he hit the ball off the tee when we played together this year," Pepperell, 25, said. "Driving has been my Achilles heel and if you can drive it well golf is so much easier.

"I send Dave videos and he sends back his analysis. I've put it in play on every hole for the first two days and generally when I do that, then I score fairly well, what I would consider my strength."

Lee, who was the youngest European Tour winner before Manassero after victory in the Johnnie Walker Classic as an 18-year-old amateur, was supposed to be defending his Greenbrier Classic on the PGA Tour this week.

But after devastating floods caused the event to be cancelled, the world number 48 decided to compete in Scotland and donate money for every birdie (500 US dollars) and eagle (1,000 US dollars) he makes to the flood-relief efforts in West Virginia.

"I know it's not that much to help everybody but I'm trying to make as much money as possible to add a little bit of help," Lee said. "It was a huge breakthrough for me to capture my first PGA Tour victory last year and ever since I've been playing some great golf."

Further down the leaderboard, 2013 champion Phil Mickelson recovered from two early bogeys to add a 69 to his opening 76 and make the cut with a shot to spare.