A year after missing the cut at the Scottish Open in only his fifth start as a professional, Ludvig Aberg took an easy halfway lead and chased the biggest win of his young career.
The 24-year-old Swede took advantage of the ideal conditions at the Renaissance Club and shot a 64 for the second time in a row, leaving him 12 under par at halftime, one stroke ahead of Frenchman Antoine Rozner.
Adam Scott shot a 65, following his first-round 67, and is the leading Australian, four strokes behind the leader.
“I didn’t play well today, but somehow I still managed to make a few birdies, so the putter must have worked pretty well, but we had ideal conditions,” he said.
“Even though the pins were a little lower today, it was a good day for the putter to get some balls in and I’m hanging in there.”
Last night’s leader, Justin Thomas, had a nightmarish second round, hitting a tee shot out of bounds on hole 8, his 17th, for a double bogey.
With his 72 strokes, he is six strokes behind the leader and is now level with fellow Australian Cameron Davis with 134 strokes. Min-Woo Lee also made the cut with 137 strokes. However, for Jason Scrivener, who missed the cut, the weekend is over.
Rozner, who has not lost a stroke this week, added a 64 to his opening 65, while Italy’s Matteo Manassero and South Korea’s Sungjae Im were at 10 under par after rounds of 63 and 67, respectively.
Defending champion Rory McIlroy is three strokes behind the leader after a 66. Spaniard Alejandro del Rey – who was called up to the team at short notice following Sebastian Söderberg’s withdrawal – is also at nine under par after starting his second round of 62 with six birdies in a row.
“It was very nice,” said Aberg with typical understatement. “I felt like we had a very good game plan and executed the shots.”
“We try not to force anything. We try to show a lot of acceptance when we play and make sure we take good swings and create a lot of opportunities, which I think we did a very good job of.”
Aberg only turned professional in June last year, but won the final Ryder Cup qualifying tournament in Switzerland in early September and was hailed as a “talent of a generation” when he received a wildcard from European captain Luke Donald.
Together with Viktor Hovland, he beat world number one Scottie Scheffler and five-time major winner Brooks Koepka 9&7 in Rome to win the trophy back in Europe. Two months later, he won his first title on the PGA Tour.
Making his major debut in April, Aberg finished second to Scheffler at the Masters and led halfway through last month’s US Open, but is determined not to let success go to his head.
“I wouldn’t call myself a superstar. I just try to play good golf,” Aberg said.