Sharvin shoots into contention with 66 in Scotland – “It’s been a long time coming!”

John Craven
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Cormac Sharvin (Photo by Andrew Redington/Getty Images)

John Craven

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Cormac Sharvin will go into the weekend rounds of the $8m abrdn Scottish Open with every chance after firing a superb bogey-free five-under par round of 66 on day two at the Renaissance Club.

The Ardglass professional, who showed signs of form with a tie for 33rd at last week’s Irish Open, carried those good feelings to North Berwick where he sits just outside the top-10 at six-under par, five back of Jon Rahm’s lead.

“It’s been a long time coming I guess,” Sharvin smiled, having struggled with a niggling injury over the past few weeks on Tour.

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“I’ve been struggling with my game for the last while but I managed to get things together last week and I felt like I hit the ball quite nicely and just brought that into this week.

“I hit the ball really well again. Feel like I have really good control of the ball. I was four-under through nine yesterday and had a really disappointing finish – got a bit frustrated after a bogey on 2 and let that filter in – so I did a really good job today of staying patient, having a good acceptance and that equated to a 66 which I felt like I deserved.”

Weeks like this one take on extra importance given the bump in world ranking points on account of such a stellar field. The 28-year old is projected to jump more than 40 places on the Race to Dubai standings at the time of writing and it’s not just security for the long haul that Sharvin’s chasing this week in Scotland – there’s also a lot of validation and evidence after a tricky run of form that his golf is capable of competing with the very best.

“It’s great for your confidence,” he admits. “Obviously the week before The Open means there’s a lot of really good players here. I’m just happy to be competing with these guys but obviously playing well too which is nice. It’s always nice to test your game against the best in the world. I feel like the last few days it’s stood up really well to that so hopefully it can stick like that for the weekend.”

With three spots available for Royal St. George’s for the leading three players not already exempt, this week could be a massive one for Sharvin. By contrast, it looks likely to be a short one for Rory McIlroy who’s currently one shot outside the projected cut-mark of two-under. The Holywood star seemed to be fighting his swing all morning before signing for a three-birdie, three-bogey even par 71, now hoping for favours from the second half of Friday’s draw.

Padraig Harrington was going nicely at five-under – one-under through four holes of his second round – while Graeme McDowell (+3) and Jonathan Caldwell (+4) have a huge task on their hands to turn their fortunes around, albeit with plenty of holes in hand.

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