The warm temperatures and sunshine continued to adorn the Moray Firth, with another day of low scoring thrilling the Scottish galleries at Castle Stuart. On Friday, their temperatures were rising even higher as one of their own, Chris Doak, leads the 31st Scottish Open going into Saturday. The 35-year-old from Greenock, who earned his Tour card last year courtesy of finishing inside the top ten on the Challenge Tour’s order of merit, took advantage of benign conditions in the morning to shoot a second consecutive round of 66 to reach a total of 12-under at the stunning links just outside of Inverness. With the cutline falling at 4-under, Doak finds himself one-shot clear of a remaining field that is just separated by eight shots.
Doak, who has spent the majority of his professional career playing satellite Tours, has now given himself an excellent opportunity to make his career over the weekend. Having played on the Tartan Tour between 1997 and 2008, his forays into the upper echelons of European golf has only been a recent development for the Greenock based player. Doak, who is coached by revered instructor Bob Torrance, shot two nines of 33 to follow up his 66 of yesterday with another on Friday.
“It's absolutely phenomenal to shoot 66-66 in the first two days,” said Doak. “You start the week thinking you want to go low but to actually do it is fantastic.”
The 81-year-old Torrance, father of former Ryder Cup captain Sam, is on site at Castle Stuart this week, and that influence is something that Doak has taken much comfort from: “It helps Bob being here, as well. He's not at many tournaments now, so it definitely helps, makes a difference.”
Doak, who lost his card at the end of his only previous season on the European Tour in 2009, finds himself 135th in the Race to Dubai. Requiring a finish inside the top 115 to retain a full playing status for 2014, Doak believes that his form has been threatening to appear for some time:
“I just feel it has been coming all year but just maybe haven't put it all together. These two days, I've definitely put it together.”
Doak, who will be hoping to become just the second Scottish winner of the event, has enjoyed the support from the passionate spectators, and he will surely draw a large local crowd tomorrow: “It's fantastic, to hear all the highland accents up here cheering you on, it's fantastic,” he revealed. I'm sure there will be a big following at the weekend. People are up for it so hopefully there's a lot more people.”
A victory in his national championship would be a dream come true for Doak, who wears a cap not to dissimilar to the one worn by legendary South African Bobby Locke back in the 1950s. A victory at Castle Stuart would not only ensure of his place on the European Tour for another two years, but it would also qualify him for next week’s Open Championship.
However, 70 players are all within eight shots of the lead. Talented American Peter Uihlein, Denmark’s JB Hansen and the English duo of Ross Fisher and Matthew Southgate are a shot back of Doak. An even larger group is at 10-under, and it includes Henrik Stenson and Simon Khan.
Four-time major champion Phil Mickelson remains very much in contention at 8-under, while Open champion Ernie Els missed the cut ahead of the defence of his title next week at Muirfield. Mickelson followed up his 66 of yesterday with a battling 70 today, as he looks to hone his game for links golf ahead of The Open Championship.
“I was a little bit off today. I was just a little off. I started out with another 3-putt from 20 feet and I think the reason why today was a good day is because I was off, I fought hard, I shot a couple under, and I'm in position where if I get a hot round, I can make up ground and I'm playing well enough to do it. So today was a big day that I didn't let it get away from me and I was able to get it back to even by the turn and shoot a few under on the back.”
One of the highlights of Mickelson’s unpredictable round, was his remarkable birdie at the third courtesy of a stunning flop shot. It’s always been his trademark, however from the position he was in just left of the short par four with little green between him and the pin, the show was a thing of genius. When asked, Phil reflected on that masterful shot:
“It was a good one. To leave that short of the hole, I didn't think was possible, but it's a shot that over here, because the ground is so firm, not many people try or play. It's actually easier on firm turf, because I have so much weight forward and I'm driving the club so steeply down into the ground, that if it's soft, I just go underneath it. So this firmer ground is good to get the club to pop back up into the ball and get the ball to shoot up vertically, which is how I'm able to hit that shot. I mean, it was a good shot but it probably wasn't as hard as it looked just because the lie and everything was conducive to that. The wind was helping and so forth.”
Mickelson will have no inhibitions about winning the week before the major, having done so by 13 shots at the Bell South Classic in 2006 seven days before winning his second Masters Tournament. With the Scottish Open being televised live tomorrow on NBC in an historic moment for the European Tour, Mickelson firmly believes he can find himself in a prominent position on that coverage over the weekend:
“I feel like I'm playing really well, even though today's score was not indicative of it. I don't know what it was. I just was fractionally off. If I can get a hot hand tomorrow, I feel like I'm striking it well enough and making enough putts to shoot a really low round.”
With another day of fine weather forecast, a home favourite leading the event, with an American legend headlining the bunched chasing pack, it’s sure to be a thrilling Saturday. It’s a deserving tournament for the thousands of fans in attendance, and for the television companies worldwide. And, with Castle Stuart hosting for a final time, it’s truly fitting that its wonderful design is illustrated in such a stunning manner.
However, on Friday, it is Chris Doak who leads. So far it’s been route 66 for the Scotsman, but he may very well be on a route to achieve a lifetime’s dream and become King of the Castle.