Englishman Robert Rock has a healthy two-shot lead at the halfway stage of the Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open at Gullane with an overall score of 13-under-par.
Rock built on a strong opening round with a seven-under-par 63 yesterday, which puts him two shots clear of fellow Englishman Tyrrell Hatton and Sweden’s Jens Dantorp.
It has been an outstanding performance from 41-year-old Rock so far, who has recorded 13 birdies and is yet to drop a shot over the two days so far.
The Staffordshire player, who has two previous European Tour victories to his name, is hopeful he can maintain his consistency over the weekend.
Rock said: “My swing didn’t feel as good as Thursday but I managed to get a better score out of it which is surprising, but that is part of the four-round process.
“If you can do that when you don’t feel quite as good, that’s something. That gave me a bit of hope because I know generally I don’t get four days of everything feeling great.
“I generally have three days of feeling great and one iffy one. I hope this was the iffy one – it might not be, but I’m used to that sort of scenario happening over four days.
“I’m pleased that I managed to turn out a good score and had some things go my way to help me do that.”
In addition to his own playing career, Rock also performs coaching duties for Matt Wallace and Ryder Cup captain Thomas Bjorn among others, however he is determined to reach next week’s Open Championship at Carnoustie of his own accord.
Rock added: “It’s everything, but you have to focus on this event first and play the course here before that. I hate missing the Open. I’ll be there whatever happens as a coach but it’s hard going just as a coach and not playing.”
Buckinghamshire golfer Hatton is 11-under-par for the tournament after shooting a second round 64, however he is remaining level-headed at the midway stage.
Hatton said: “It’s just another tournament at the end of the day.
“We’re all here every week trying to play our best and fortunately for me I’ve played well on links courses in the past, had good finishes in this tournament. So you know rebound hopefully I’ll continue that this weekend.
“There’s a lot of golf to be played between now and then. Hopefully I can just play well, play better than I did today, and obviously keep the putts rolling in and that would be great.”
Oxford’s Eddie Pepperell is one of three players tied on 10-under for the tournament, and he also has ambitions to play at Carnoustie next week.
The 27-year-old finished two shots behind 2015 winner Rickie Fowler when the tournament was last held at Gullane in joint third-place, and he said: “The two similarities are that I haven’t played a practise round, and stayed in Edinburgh both times.
“That seems to be the secret for me in Gullane, just go out and have nice meals in Edinburgh and drink a bit of wine and come up here and play for four hours.
“It seems to be working. Hopefully it works for two more days.
“I’m actually going to be commentating at the Open for a couple of days if I don’t play. I’m going to be there in whichever capacity. Obviously I’d rather be playing but we’ll just wait and see.”
Defending champion Rafa Cabrera-Bello and Phil Mickelson were among those to miss the cut, both finishing one-under for the tournament.
American Mickelson said: “I have some work to do on my game, I didn’t play great.
“Now I’ll have a couple of extra days to go over to Carnoustie and try to get it done. I’m not quite as sharp as I’ve been earlier in the year, but it’s not far off.”
