Ludvig Åberg carded a second consecutive round of 64 to take a one-shot lead into the weekend at the Genesis Scottish Open, but defending champion Rory McIlroy is just four back in a tie for fifth.
Seamus Power improved with a second-round 67 to move to -4 and is safely through to the weekend where all focus will be on going low and pushing his way up the leaderboard to contend for one of three Open Championship places on offer to the leading players who haven’t already qualified, but both Tom McKibbin and Padraig Harrington missed the cut.
McKibbin was among the early starters and though he put in a spirited fight on the back nine, came up a couple of shots shy, while Harrington saw his chances of weekend action end with a double bogey-seven on the par-5 10th.
McIlroy could easily have been a couple of shots better, but he’s well within striking distance heading into the weekend on his first start since losing the US Open in heartbreaking fashion at Pinehurst.
Swede Åberg went bogey-free on day two at The Renaissance Club to get to 12 under as he looks for a maiden Rolex Series title to continue his remarkable rise in the game.
The 24-year-old was sitting outside the top 300 on the Official World Golf Ranking when he missed the cut here in just his fifth professional start 12 months ago but in the year since he has won maiden titles on the DP World Tour and PGA TOUR, played on a victorious European Ryder Cup team, finished second at the Masters Tournament on his Major debut and risen to fourth in the world.
“It’s been very nice,” said the Swede after his round. “I felt like we’ve had a very good game plan and executing the shots. We try not to force anything. We try to have a lot of acceptance when we play and make sure that we put good swings on it, and give ourselves plenty of chances, which I felt like we’ve done very well.
“There’s, what, 150-something players in the field. No one is going to play perfect golf for 72 holes. I think it’s going to happen to everyone at some point, and whenever that happens, you’ve just got to try to deal with it the best you can, and all I can do is try to put good swings on it, and then hopefully the decision that we’ve made is the right one and try to hit it again when we find it.
“You’re always going to have as a professional golfer tendencies that you work with. Sometimes you need to be pushed in one direction.
“With my driver, sometimes I tend to get a little bit underneath it, which I don’t like, and I throw my hands and I flip it. So I’m trying to cover it a little bit better and make sure that I stay on top of the ball.”
Åberg is unlikely to have it all his own way over the final 36 holes in East Lothian, however, with a stellar field assembled for the event co-sanctioned by the PGA TOUR.
Frenchman Antoine Rozner stayed bogey-free for the week with a 64 of his own to sit at 11 under, a shot clear of Italian Matteo Manassero, who carded a 63, and South Korea’s Sungjae Im who carded a 67.
Defending champion McIlroy, American pair Collin Morikawa and Sahith Theegala, Spaniard Alejandro de Rey, Dane Rasmus Højgaard and Swede Alex Noren were then at nine under.
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