“The way I play golf right now, it's just really satisfying.”

That was Martin Kaymer’s understated reaction to setting the 36-hole tournament scoring record on route to securing a commanding six-shot lead at the halfway stage of the 114th United States Open Championship.

The 29-year-old German, who secured a wire-to-wire victory in the Players Championship a month ago, has positioned himself in pole-position to accomplish a similar route to victory at Pinehurst, after shattering and equalling all kinds of records during two sparkling rounds of golf.

Following his opening round of 65 on Thursday, the lowest recorded in a U.S. Open at Pinehurst, Kaymer said: “No one really should expect me to shoot another 5-under par the next three rounds. I don't.”

With the difficulty of this restored old course, that was a perfectly reasonable assessment. But Kaymer is a player capable of extraordinary things, and he would illustrate those qualities during a breath-taking display on Friday morning on the sandy fairways of this North Carolinian classic.

Starting on the tenth, Kaymer would set his stall out immediately with an opening birdie, quickly dispelling any wishful thinking from fellow competitors that he would come back to them. They would need to catch him. And he would ensure that they wouldn’t be able to.

Further birdies would come on the 13th and 16th, as he stretched even further clear from a field who must have felt that they were playing a different course. His driving was accurate, his approaches precise, and his short-game was unrelenting in ensuring that he would navigate his way around Donald Ross’ legendary course without dropping a single shot.

In fact, he would gain two more. Those birdies coming on the third and fifth, seeing him reach double figures under-par in America’s national championship. That is a rare feat in the typically demanding and restrictive conditions laid down by the USGA, but Kaymer took full advantage of the rain-softened greens as he completed a second consecutive round of 65 – becoming the first player to do so in the storied history of this championship.

But do not take that as an indication that this course was somehow playing easy. It was anything but, with only 12 other players finding themselves under-par after the opening two rounds. The comparatively soft conditions would only make it slightly possible to do great things, but it would require a great player at the height of his powers to do so.

With a major championship already on his resume, in addition to a World Golf Championship and Players Championship, Kaymer can already be considered one of the best players of his generation.

A second major would only reaffirm those credentials before he turns 30, and a six-shot lead after 36-holes – tying the event record – has given him an enticing platform to claim this historic trophy.

Tiger Woods (2000) and Rory McIlroy (2011) would both hold six shots leads at the halfway stage, before progressing onto claiming two of the most dominant victories in history.

Although Kaymer had his troubles that saw him fall from the summit of the world rankings to outside the top 50, he is a winner. A major champion and recent Players champion – who also holed the defining winning putt in the 2012 Ryder Cup. The likeable and machine-like German is a man who can handle pressure, and he will believe that it will be his own momentous victory that shall be witnessed on Sunday.

But anything can happen in this game. We’ve seen it only recently. Adam Scott, the world’s top ranked player, blew a seven-shot lead at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March, while Rory McIlroy, only last month, would win the European Tour’s flagship event at Wentworth after starting the final round seven behind.

Pinehurst No. 2 is a course that will punish the reckless and naïve. It will latch upon any sign of vulnerability, but yet it is hard to see Kaymer’s metronomic rhythm being significantly stunted.

Playing in his first major championship, American Brendon Todd is Kaymer’s nearest challenger. Marquee names like Snedeker, Johnson, Bradley, Stenson, Kuchar, McIlroy, Spieth and Scott are all within ten shots, which in theory isn’t unassailable, but it is not a track that is open to aggression.

Clam, efficient and seemingly impervious to anything that Pinehurst throws at him, you almost feel that Martin Kaymer is the only person that can prevent him from winning with two rounds remaining.

And that is not something that the rest can reasonably bank on.