Englishman Sam Horsfield’s impressive UK Swing form continued at the Celtic Classic on Friday as he ended the second round with a one stroke lead.
Horsfield, winner of his first European Tour title at the Hero Open a fortnight ago, shot a seven under par round of 64 on the Twenty Ten Course at Celtic Manor Resort to move one stroke ahead of first-round leader Thomas Pieters of Belgium.
Horsfield was two under for the day standing on the ninth tee but carded four successive birdies around the turn and added two more on the 15th and 16th holes respectively. He recovered from a triple bogey on the 17th with an excellent eagle on the 18th hole to sign for an 11 under par total.
Commenting on his eagle at the 18th, the English golfer admitted:
“(The eagle on 18) was actually funny, we had the exact same number into 17 at Forest of Arden when I won and hit that shot. So I hit the exact same shot and made the putt for eagle. 17 was not great, but to bounce back after making the triple I’ve got myself in a good position for tomorrow.”
Andrew ‘Beef’ Johnston was four over for his round after five holes, but made an excellent recovery as he finished his round with an eagle and three birdies on his last four holes. He has a share of third place alongside fellow Englishman Callum Shinkwin and Pieters’ countryman Thomas Detry on nine under par.
American Sean Crocker, England’s Matthew Jordan and Jake McLeod of Australia are a shot further back on eight under par.
Thursday’s opening round leader Thomas Pieters said of his second round:
“I was going along nicely on the front nine but just couldn’t make a putt. I made some better shots on the back nine, a couple of mishaps on the 18th – it came out really dead, but that’s the price you pay if you hit it in the rough – all in all, I’m pretty happy. I made some good putts and hit some good golf shots so I’m glad.”
Select Round Two Scores
131 S HORSFIELD (ENG) 67 64,
132 T PIETERS (BEL) 64 68,
133 A JOHNSTON (ENG) 67 66, T DETRY (BEL) 67 66, C SHINKWIN (ENG) 68 65,
134 J MCLEOD (AUS) 65 69, M JORDAN (ENG) 68 66, S CROCKER (USA) 68 66, J CALDWELL (NIR) 68 66,
135 N ELVIRA (ESP) 66 69, S SODERBERG (SWE) 66 69, C SYME (SCO) 68 67, R ENOCH (WAL) 69 66,
136 S KIM (USA) 66 70, G MIGLIOZZI (ITA) 66 70, W BESSELING (NED) 67 69, J CATLIN (USA) 68 68, J SMITH (ENG) 68 68, A OTAEGUI (ESP) 69 67,
137 A MERONK (POL) 66 71, L GAGLI (ITA) 67 70, M SOUTHGATE (ENG) 67 70, A RAI (ENG) 67 70, J MORRISON (ENG) 67 70, W NIENABER (RSA) 70 67,
138 M WARREN (SCO) 66 72, E MOLINARI (ITA) 66 72, J SJ0HOLM (SWE) 68 70, F LAPORTA (ITA) 69 69, O LENGDEN (SWE) 69 69, J SCRIVENER (AUS) 69 69, S VINCENT (ZIM) 69 69, C HILL (SCO) 70 68, C SHARVIN (NIR) 71 67,
145 N HIJGAARD (DEN) 70 75, N LEMKE (SWE) 74 71, G MOYNIHAN (IRL) 74 71, S DODD (WAL) 75 70,
149 J VEERMAN (USA) 72 77, P MCGINLEY (IRL) 75 74.
Clandeboye golfer Jonathan Caldwell remains the leading Irish golfer, adding an impressive 66 to his opening round of 68. Cormac Sharvin improved on his first round by 4 shots as the Ardglass man signed for a 67 on Friday. Gavin Moynihan shot a 71 to add to his first day 74, while Paul McGinley bettered his Thursday’s score by a shot as he carded a 74 today. Neither Moynihan nor McGinley made it through to the weekend.
