The hatless Robert Rock has it firing on all cylinders so far at the Scottish Open.
The Englishman backed up his first round 64 with a 63 Friday at the Gullane Golf Club and now leads by two shots.
Rickie Fowler, winner at Gullane in 2015, stayed in touch with the leader. Fowler’s 66 got him into double-digits under par (10-under) and he’s tied with England’s Eddie Pepperell.
Jens Dantrop and Tyrrell Hatton will start Saturday just a shot behind Rock at 11-under.
Rock’s 13-under mark is the lowest 36 hole score this season on the European Tour.
“My swing didn’t feel as good today but I managed to get a better score out of it which surprising but that is part of the four-round process,” Rock said afterward. “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, four days, I don’t get four days of everything feeling great.
“Not dropping shots makes you feel like you’re playing proper golf, smart golf and your bad shots aren’t really bad. My short game is kind of healthy at the moment. You need two, really, to save par. Yesterday I only missed one green and I chipped in and that was pretty cool,” Rock pointed out after going bogey-free for the first two rounds.
“Today wasn’t obviously as good tee-to-green but I did make some good up-and-downs, and my long putting has been good, which this type of golf demands, really. I have a lot of 40- and 50-foot putts, when you’re in the fairway or you don’t hit a great approach shot, you put it on the front edge or back edge and you lag those up and two-putt is what you’re after. So far, so good.”
The low scores produced a cutline that came at four-under par and some big names won’t see the weekend.
Phil Mickelson (one-under), Matt Kuchar (three-under) and Hideki Matsuyama (two-under), all missed the cut.
