| Robert MacIntyre carded the joint-lowest round of the day, a six under par 66, as he took a share of the lead at the halfway stage of the Betfred British Masters hosted by Danny Willett.
The Scotsman, searching for his second European Tour victory, raced up the leaderboard with five birdies on his first five holes on the iconic Brabazon Course at The Belfry, making the turn four under par. Three birdies on his closing five holes saw him sign for a seven under par total, sharing the lead with compatriot Calum Hill and England’s Richard Bland.
It is the first time Bland has shared the lead after 36 holes at a European Tour event since the British Masters in 2016, as he bids to record a maiden win on his 478th start. The 48-year-old is the only bogey-free player after two rounds, adding to yesterday’s score of 68 with a round of 69.
Hill continued the form which has seen him record three top-eight finishes on the 2021 Race to Dubai, which included a season-best result of tied third at the Kenya Savannah Classic supported by Absa in March.
Englishman Eddie Pepperell, winner of the British Masters in 2018 at Walton Heath, shares fourth place with Frenchman Julien Guerrier and South African Justin Harding.
Tournament host Danny Willett remains in the hunt after a level par round of 72. The 2016 Masters champion shares 16th place on three under par. Willett has raised £9,000 for his chosen charity, Prostate Cancer UK, after carding four second round birdies, adding to the five he recorded yesterday. Tournament title sponsors Betfred have pledged £1,000 for every birdie and £2,000 for every eagle Willett records this week to Prostate Cancer UK.
Player Quotes
Robert MacIntyre: “It was one of those days where you start off and everything you look at goes in. It was exactly where we’re aiming it and it was good to see the work we’ve been putting in on the putting continuing to perform.
“I started working with Graeme (Leslie) in the middle of last year. I was getting into bad habits and he was just drilling it into me: ‘trust in what you’re doing’. Everything we’ve done is pretty simple; he just gives me basic things to work on and then I just trust it.”
Calum Hill: “I think the weather was more favourable than it could’ve been, so not too bad.
“I’ve had a couple of chip-ins from the first two rounds already. I keep knocking it close and not putting too much stress on my putter when I need to get up and down, so it’s been really good.
“I didn’t quite have the long game dialled in today, so I had a few lag putts that I had to get up and not too many close that were very close, but all-in-all it wasn’t too bad. I’m striving for a very good weekend and finish on top but we’ll see what we can do.”
Richard Bland: “Tee to green has been the secret. I think I missed two fairways yesterday and they were both by six inches and I think I only missed two today too, so that means my greens in regulation stats are pretty up as well.
“I thought the pins were a little tighter today than they were yesterday but looking at the forecast last night, the bag has got about three towels in it and poor Brendan (McCartain) has been carrying about 50 kilos in the bag and we didn’t need it in the end. There’s hardly any breeze so if you do put it in the fairway you will give yourself enough chances.”
Danny Willett: “We got a good run with the weather, we’ve been lucky the first two days. Played some real nice golf but didn’t quite get a few of the little bounces, ran through a couple of fairways by a couple of yards – when you’re hitting in to small areas, we didn’t just quite get everything right. We’re not going to be too far back with a couple of rounds to go. Hopefully we can turn a few of them round and hole a few putts over the weekend.”
Scores after Round Two:
137 R BLAND (ENG) 68 69, R MACINTYRE (SCO) 71 66, C HILL (SCO) 67 70,
138 J GUERRIER (FRA) 72 66, J HARDING (RSA) 69 69, E PEPPERELL (ENG) 70 68,
139 M PAVON (FRA) 68 71,
140 L SLATTERY (ENG) 72 68, G MIGLIOZZI (ITA) 68 72, L DE JAGER (RSA) 68 72, B WIESBERGER (AUT) 68 72, A SULLIVAN (ENG) 69 71, D COUPLAND (ENG) 71 69, J SMITH (ENG) 71 69, R MANSELL (ENG) 69 71,
141 M KORHONEN (FIN) 70 71, D WILLETT (ENG) 69 72, C WOOD (ENG) 69 72, R RAMSAY (SCO) 70 71, P DUNNE (IRL) 72 69, J STALTER (FRA) 69 72, A ARNAUS (ESP) 69 72, M SCHWAB (AUT) 66 75, L CANTER (ENG) 70 71, J MORRISON (ENG) 68 73,
142 R JACQUELIN (FRA) 75 67, J HANSEN (DEN) 71 71, J WINTHER (DEN) 72 70, D BURMESTER (RSA) 69 73, S HORSFIELD (ENG) 72 70, C SORDET (FRA) 68 74, A MERONK (POL) 70 72, M LEE (AUS) 75 67, A JOHNSTON (ENG) 71 71, A LEVY (FRA) 71 71, A CHESTERS (ENG) 73 69, T PULKKANEN (FIN) 72 70, J SURI (USA) 68 74, J JANEWATTANANOND (THA) 73 69, J GEARY (NZL) 70 72,
143 S KJELDSEN (DEN) 71 72, R SANTOS (POR) 73 70, R PARATORE (ITA) 73 70, A COCKERILL (CAN) 70 73, E MOLINARI (ITA) 71 72, R FISHER (ENG) 69 74, T BJ?RN (DEN) 72 71,
144 S GARCIA RODRIGUEZ (ESP) 71 73, T OLESEN (DEN) 71 73, G PORTEOUS (ENG) 70 74, D VAN DRIEL (NED) 74 70, A WU (CHN) 73 71, A OTAEGUI (ESP) 73 71, S V?LIM?KI (FIN) 71 73, J GONNET (FRA) 71 73, C PAISLEY (ENG) 70 74, S SHARMA (IND) 73 71, C SHARVIN (NIR) 73 71, D WHITNELL (ENG) 70 74,
145 G GREEN (MAS) 75 70, M LORENZO-VERA (FRA) 71 74, A BJ?RK (SWE) 73 72, O WILSON (ENG) 73 72, A CA?IZARES (ESP) 71 74, J CALDWELL (NIR) 76 69, M SOUTHGATE (ENG) 72 73, J DONALDSON (WAL) 74 71, S SODERBERG (SWE) 73 72, T DETRY (BEL) 73 72, R SCIOT-SIEGRIST (FRA) 72 73, S TILEY (ENG) 74 71, N ELVIRA (ESP) 73 72, J VEERMAN (USA) 71 74, J SENIOR (ENG) 72 73,
146 G FDEZ-CASTA?O (ESP) 76 70, L BJERREGAARD (DEN) 74 72, B RITTHAMMER (GER) 73 73, M KIEFFER (GER) 74 72, J CAMPILLO (ESP) 76 70, A SANDHU (IND) 74 72, S HEISELE (GER) 72 74, G HAVRET (FRA) 77 69, P LARRAZ?BAL (ESP) 71 75, J WALTERS (RSA) 74 72, M ANTCLIFF (AUS) 73 73, A QUIROS (ESP) 74 72, M SCHMITT (GER) 68 78, N VON DELLINGSHAUSEN (GER) 73 73, P FIGUEIREDO (POR) 74 72,
147 D LAW (SCO) 72 75, O FARR (WAL) 74 73, R ROCK (ENG) 73 74, J MCLEOD (AUS) 73 74, C SYME (SCO) 75 72, W ORMSBY (AUS) 74 73, T GANDY (IMN) 73 74,
148 C PIGEM (ESP) 71 77, A PAVAN (ITA) 69 79, S GALLACHER (SCO) 76 72, D DIXON (ENG) 72 76, L VAN MEIJEL (NED) 77 71, S KIM (USA) 72 76, H LI (CHN) 76 72, R LANGASQUE (FRA) 75 73, F ZANOTTI (PAR) 78 70, R H?JGAARD (DEN) 74 74, C SHINKWIN (ENG) 74 74, T TREE (ENG) 71 77,
149 D HOWELL (ENG) 74 75, M JORDAN (ENG) 74 75, M KAWAMURA (JPN) 72 77, B HEBERT (FRA) 76 73, S CROCKER (USA) 72 77, M ARMITAGE (ENG) 76 73, P ORIOL (ESP) 71 78, L GAGLI (ITA) 75 74, J LEVERMORE (ENG) 74 75,
150 J KASKE (FIN) 73 77, J SCRIVENER (AUS) 79 71, B DREDGE (WAL) 75 75, D HORSEY (ENG) 77 73, J LAGERGREN (SWE) 77 73, Z LOMBARD (RSA) 76 74, M KAYMER (GER) 74 76, N KEARNEY (IRL) 73 77, S BROWN (ENG) 71 79, R MCEVOY (ENG) 75 75,
151 Y CHANG (KOR) 72 79, R KARLBERG (SWE) 72 79, F LAPORTA (ITA) 76 75, M BULLEN (ENG) 74 77, S CHAWRASIA (IND) 75 76, M WARREN (SCO) 74 77, S HEND (AUS) 78 73, B EVANS (ENG) 77 74,
152 B POKE (DEN) 74 78, M FORD (ENG) 76 76, R MCGOWAN (ENG) 75 77, S YONGCHAROENCHAI (THA) 76 76, K BROBERG (SWE) 76 76, A DEL REY (ESP) 76 76,
153 G BHULLAR (IND) 77 76, R ROUSSEL (FRA) 73 80, C MORIARTY (IRL) 78 75,
154 W BESSELING (NED) 77 77, M SCHNEIDER (GER) 79 75, P ANGLES (ESP) 76 78,
155 G FORREST (SCO) 78 77, A SADDIER (FRA) 77 78,
157 R ENOCH (WAL) 74 83,
158 D DRYSDALE (SCO) 76 82, S JAMIESON (SCO) 80 78,
162 G STORM (ENG) 82 80,
**
OUT P WARING (ENG) 73 WD, H PORTEOUS (RSA) 73 RT, O FISHER (ENG) RT , |
