– Chris Gotterup (-11) has emerged shining in the morning session of play on the second day of the Scottish Open to sign a 61, nine under for the day, and seize the provisional lead of the tournament, which will very likely be definitive by the end of the day if, as it seems, the wind picks up in the afternoon over the Scottish Renaissance Golf.
– Let’s break it down, because the emergence of this young player from Maryland (he’s 25 years old) is one of those pleasant surprises that golf has in store for us. Last year Chris came to play this tournament for the first time and signed a 66 on his first attempt, only to crash spectacularly on Friday (77) and miss the cut. Those were the only competitive rounds this player had played on a purely British links until this week. It seems he’s not doing too badly, despite that 77…
Gotterup has been sinking good putts from medium and long distances to complete that card with nine birdies and not a single blemish. And it’s curious because this player had reached this point in the season with the clear feeling of not being sharp on the greens. “I don’t know, maybe it’s because here I have to hit hard with the putter and one doesn’t worry so much about the feel,” he explained, referring to these Scottish greens, which are noticeably slower than those managed in any other PGA Tour tournament.
Be that as it may, the one from Maryland, who is one of the great bombers in world golf, has just signed his best score in a PGA Tour competition round. And it had to be in Scotland and on a links. If he stays at the top, he will also win one of the three spots being distributed this week for the Open, a tournament that surely wasn’t in his plans.
– We wondered yesterday what the European Ryder captain, Luke Donald, expected to find by playing these first two days alongside Harry Hall (-8), a compatriot of his who makes a good living on the PGA Tour, but whom no one usually considers for the Ryder. Well, everything good he was looking for has certainly been confirmed, because Hall delivered a 64 today and is second on the leaderboard. Let no one consider the captain’s six picks closed…
– Gotterup leads and Hall aims high, but there are two other main names worth highlighting: Rory McIlroy (-7) and Xander Schauffele (-6), who were also playing together, have closed notable rounds of 65 and 66 strokes respectively, to include themselves right now among the most serious candidates for the final victory. It’s curious because both have been winners of this tournament and on this course, the Northern Irishman in 2023 and the Californian in 2022, in case there were any loose ends to consider them top favourites. The important thing, in any case, is how well they have played, with a special mention for Rory‘s putter. It was a real delight to see how he touched the ball on the greens, how he measured the strength on the longer putts, and how much he holed from those three, four, or five metres away, especially for birdie, but also to save some tricky situations. Curiously, the only bogey of the day came on the 8th hole, the penultimate of the day, after missing a very short putt, but not even this lapse tarnishes his wonderful performance on the greens. Everyone should be prepared next week at Royal Portrush if Rory putts even half as well as he did today…
– Matt Fitzpatrick (-8) signed a 63 this morning and his performance could be huge this week because he hasn’t arrived at this event well placed in the Fedex Cup ranking (he still has to earn a spot in the playoffs) or in the Race to Dubai. For now, he has made it into the last matches on Saturday just three strokes behind the immense Gotterup.
– The two Spaniards who were in contention in this morning session of play, Jorge Campillo (-1) and Pablo Larrazábal (+7), couldn’t beat the course. The Extremaduran, with a round of 71, one over for the day, will have to wait to see if he makes the cut, probably praying for the wind to pick up, in which case he will likely make it through, while the Barcelonan has bowed out with a round of 72 strokes, insufficient to shed the burden he already carried from Thursday’s round.
