Ludvig Aberg (-12) is the provisional leader of the Genesis Scottish Open after the morning round of the second round. The Swedish robot repeats a round of 64 strokes and climbs to the top of the leaderboard.
A bogey-free day, with six birdies spread across The Renaissance Club gives him a one-stroke lead over Antoine Rozner (11) and two over Sungjae Im and Matteo Manassero (-10). The Italian, along with Ben Kohles, has handed in the best card of the early round and shows that he wants to return to the Open in great form, five years after doing so for the last time.
Despite the short time the Swede has been in the elite, it is possible to fall into repetition or constant praise of the 24-year-old player, but he continues to demonstrate how mature his game is for a player who was not professional just twelve months ago. Failure is not something that enters his calculations.
Like a good robot, he has caught 16 of the 18 greens in regulation. He makes it look very easy. The two recoveries he has had to make from the sand have been resolved with great solvency. From the tee, for example, this Friday he has missed five fairways, but all those failures have only been by a few metres. He has not known what is beyond the semi-rough. The longest putt to save par has been two metres and he has resolved it with great calm. He has not sweated at any moment. He has to finish. He reaps great results, but his season and status are starting to ask for some victories. Let it not be for not asking. We’ll see if it can be this week.
Among the players who are shining in Scotland, the figure of Stewart Cink (-7) stands out. The 51-year-old player and Open Championship winner in 2009 gets into the noble positions making it clear that he still has a lot of game in the bag of clubs.
Jorge Campillo is the best placed Spaniard and raises the national pride in Scotland. It is not being a very prolific week for Spanish interests, but Campillo has tried to turn this situation around. The Extremaduran has signed a card of 67 strokes that provisionally puts him in the top 30 of the tournament after the morning round. Very solid catching almost all the greens in regulation.
Two stellar moments have rounded off Campillo’s round. On hole 10, par five, the Extremaduran started very well from the tee. He played a sublime three wood that left less than a metre and a half from the hole. The crowd in for the putt and the eagle for the backpack. To that wood, we must add perhaps the best iron of the day. On hole 16 he had gone to the bunker from the tee and could only get it to the fairway. With the position he had, he had to take it from the sand to the centre of the fairway. It seemed that he was losing the chance to take advantage of the par five when from 185 metres he hit a spectacular five iron that was even very close to going in. The ball ended up right behind the hole.
Two great moments that allow the Spaniard to dream of a great moving day to get into the high positions of the table.
Pablo Larrazábal (-1), Santi Tarrio (PAR) and Adri Arnaus (+1) say goodbye to the tournament at the first opportunity and also to their last chance to get on the Open next week.
