A week after making the cut for the first
time in five months, England’s Daniel Brooks surged into a commanding
halfway lead at the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open.
The 28 year old won the Madeira Islands Open last season, but followed
that breakthrough with 14 consecutive missed cuts before picking up
another cheque.
After playing the weekend in Dubai at the end of January, Brooks missed
13 cuts in a row this term, but finished tied for 20th in France last
week to stop the rot.
An opening 64 at Gullane suggested that was more than a temporary return
to form, and a second round 65 put Brooks 11 under par and three shots
clear.
“I played really solid and I’ve not missed many shots at all,” said
Brooks, who after an eagle on the long second had one bogey and four
birdies, including an effort from 25 feet on the last.
“The last three weeks now; Germany, I started playing nicely, just
missed the cut there but played some nice golf. France, I had a load of
silly mistakes, bogeys. Cutting them out this week and it's worked out
nicely so far.
“It's hard to miss that many cuts. It does get you down. It only takes
one good week out here and hopefully that's what I'll have.
“I've been there, done it, hopefully can have a good weekend and see what happens.”
Defending champion Justin Rose and his Ryder Cup team-mate Graeme
McDowell were among those sharing second on eight under, along with
Swede Johan Carlsson, Ireland’s Shane Lowry, American Ryan Palmer and
Englishman Matthew Nixon.
Rose rated his game at just 50 per cent despite carding a second consecutive 66.
The former US Open Champion recovered from a bogey on the first with
five birdies in the next seven holes, but could only manage nine
straight pars on the back nine.
The closing stretch was not without incident however, with Rose's tee shot on the 16th hitting an elderly spectator on the head.
"You can't quite see where the spectator line is on that hole and when I
saw the ball bounce up I was hoping it had maybe hit one of the white
stakes," Rose said.
"I was pretty concerned walking up there and seeing there was someone on
the ground, but he took it like a trooper and was talking to me so that
was slightly reassuring. He told me had been coming to tournaments for
years and years and had never got hit before."
Speaking about his round, Rose said his game was "running at 50 per
cent", adding: "There are still a couple of loose shots that I am
getting away with on this course that I wouldn't on other courses.
"But I feel like I have managed my game well, played the hard holes well and kept it clean."
Lowry, who was in contention for the US Open last month before finishing
ninth, also carded his second successive 66 and credited his recent
good form to a settled home life.
"I've settled down a lot and matured a lot," said Lowry, who won the
2009 Irish Open while still an amateur. "Everything in my life is a lot
more stable and my golf is reaping the benefits."
Carlsson went round in a 67 which included four birdies against a single bogey.
“For me it was just pretty solid,” he said. “I continued to putt good,
made some saves. I did have a few chances, though, but I made a few good
par putts as well.”
Chile's Felipe Aguilar was alongside Mickelson on three under after a 64
which featured birdies at the first and second and a hole-in-one on the
third, where he holed out from 170 yards with an eight iron.
The 40 year old has a habit of brilliant bursts of scoring, winning his
second European Tour title in Singapore last year with a final round of
62 at Laguna National, holing his second shot to the 18th to complete
the back nine in just 28 shots.
But the best round of the day belonged to Dutchman Joost Luiten, who
produced a flawless 63 to match Thorbjørn Olesen’s opening effort.
Luiten will be hoping for a better follow-up than the Dane on Saturday – Olesen fired a 77 to miss the cut on level par.
SECOND-ROUND TOTALS
(83 players made the cut on 138)
129 D Brooks (Eng) 64 65,
132 R Palmer (USA) 67 65, J Carlsson (Swe) 65 67, G McDowell (Nir)
66 66, J Rose (Eng) 66 66, S Lowry (Irl) 66 66, M Nixon (Eng) 65 67,
133 R Cabrera-Bello (Esp) 67 66, R Finch (Eng) 65 68, T Fleetwood
(Eng) 67 66, R McEvoy (Eng) 66 67, E Grillo (Arg) 66 67,
134 M Kieffer (Ger) 69 65, G Stal (Fra) 66 68, G Havret (Fra) 66
68, J Luiten (Ned) 71 63, S Benson (Eng) 65 69, P Lawrie (Sco) 67 67, A
Johnston (Eng) 67 67, M Kuchar (USA) 66 68, M Fitzpatrick (Eng) 67 67,
R Fowler (USA) 66 68, M Jiménez (Esp) 69 65,
135 R Knox (Sco) 67 68, R Fisher (Eng) 70 65, Y Yang (SKor) 68 67, C
Tringale (USA) 68 67, B Martin (USA) 69 66, J Walker (USA) 65 70, J
Van Zyl (RSA) 69 66, M Hoey (Nir) 70 65, B Grace (RSA) 69 66, R
Jacquelin (Fra) 68 67,
136 J Senden (Aus) 68 68, V Dubuisson (Fra) 70 66, M Madsen (Den)
68 68, T Jaidee (Tha) 67 69, R Rock (Eng) 69 67, M Siem (Ger) 69 67, A
Sullivan (Eng) 68 68, P Harrington (Irl) 68 68, F Zanotti (Par) 69 67, P
Oriol (Esp) 67 69, E Pepperell (Eng) 70 66, J Garcia Pinto (Esp) 67 69,
L Donald (Eng) 69 67, D Drysdale (Sco) 71 65,
137 M Crespi (Ita) 69 68, J Donaldson (Wal) 70 67, F Aguilar (Chi)
73 64, L Bjerregaard (Den) 69 68, A Otaegui (Esp) 65 72, M Foster
(Eng) 67 70, J Lando Casanova (Fra) 71 66, M Warren (Sco) 70 67, S
Soderberg (Swe) 68 69, M Lampert (Ger) 71 66, T Aiken (RSA) 69 68, P
Mickelson (USA) 69 68, P Larrazábal (Esp) 71 66, M Lorenzo-Vera (Fra)
67 70, T Hatton (Eng) 68 69, O Schniederjans (am) (USA) 70 67,
138 R Paratore (Ita) 70 68, E De La Riva (Esp) 72 66, R Bland (Eng)
70 68, D Berger (USA) 73 65, B Koepka (USA) 70 68, J Campillo (Esp) 69
69, C Wood (Eng) 69 69, C Lee (Sco) 72 66, R Karlberg (Swe) 67 71, G
Hutcheon (Sco) 70 68, B Hebert (Fra) 68 70, A Levy (Fra) 68 70, M
Ilonen (Fin) 70 68, S Kjeldsen (Den) 72 66, B An (SKor) 70 68, N
Colsaerts (Bel) 73 65, S Kapur (Ind) 68 70, D Howell (Eng) 68 70, R
Wattel (Fra) 70 68, R Dinwiddie (Eng) 69 69
MISSED THE CUT
139 G Wright (Wal) 70 69, S Khan (Eng) 68 71, S Jamieson (Sco) 71
68, A Dodt (Aus) 70 69, G Bourdy (Fra) 71 68, B Steele (USA) 69 70, M
Carlsson (Swe) 68 71, E Espana (Fra) 71 68, D McGrane (Irl) 69 70, B
Dredge (Wal) 72 67, P Uihlein (USA) 68 71, F Fritsch (Ger) 68 71, O
Wilson (Eng) 70 69, M Korhonen (Fin) 69 70, A Lahiri (Ind) 71 68, K
Aphibarnrat (Tha) 71 68, K Broberg (Swe) 71 68, D Horsey (Eng) 70 69, S
Gallacher (Sco) 68 71, M Laird (Sco) 71 68,
140 T Bjørn (Den) 72 68, R Ramsay (Sco) 71 69, M Fraser (Aus) 69
71, T Murray (Eng) 71 69, A Hansen (Den) 68 72, O Fisher (Eng) 71 69, T
Fisher Jnr (RSA) 71 69, E Molinari (Ita) 71 69, M Manassero (Ita) 69
71, A McArthur (Sco) 68 72, M Ford (Eng) 70 70, T Olesen (Den) 63 77, S
Hutsby (Eng) 74 66, J Parry (Eng) 71 69,
141 J Kruger (RSA) 70 71, R Karlsson (Swe) 67 74, M Lundberg (Swe)
72 69, I Poulter (Eng) 70 71, A Cañizares (Esp) 65 76, S Hend (Aus) 70
71, R Gonzalez (Arg) 69 72, J Morrison (Eng) 71 70, N Fasth (Swe) 67
74,
142 J Lagergren (Swe) 71 71, G Storm (Eng) 71 71, A Wall (Eng) 74
68, P Edberg (Swe) 73 69, T Levet (Fra) 70 72, C Montgomerie (Sco) 74
68, J Edfors (Swe) 73 69, R Green (Aus) 70 72, S Hansen (Den) 69 73, D
Fichardt (RSA) 71 71, J Barnes (Eng) 72 70,
143 C Sutherland (Sco) 72 71, J Singh (Ind) 74 69, G Coetzee (RSA) 71 72,
144 J Quesne (Fra) 72 72, G Fox (Sco) 71 73, S Lyle (Sco) 72 72,
145 J Roos (RSA) 72 73, T Lewis (Eng) 69 76, C Paisley (Eng) 74 71, D Lipsky (USA) 72 73,
147 P McGinley (Irl) 76 71, P Maddy (Eng) 71 76, W Ormsby (Aus) 75 72,
148 C Doak (Sco) 76 72,
149 M Tullo (Chi) 71 78,
152 D Duval (USA) 77 75,
153 C Hill (am) (Sco) 75 78,
154 O Farr (Wal) 80 74,
** S Webster (Eng) 76 WD