Jon Rahm showed why he sits at the top of the Official World Golf Rankings with a superb second round 65 to hold the early clubhouse lead at the halfway mark of the 2021 abrdn Scottish Open.
The World Number One was the pre-tournament favourite heading into the final event before The 149th Open Championship and he began Friday two shots behind Jack Senior.
However, eight birdies and two bogeys saw the four time Rolex Series winner climb to the summit at The Renaissance Club on 11 under par, three shots clear of playing partner and fellow Major Champion Justin Thomas.
South African George Coetzee proved to be Rahm's nearest rival at ten under, two ahead of Thomas, Ian Poulter and afternoon starter Thomas Detry.
Rahm insists there is still room for improvement and wants to tidy up some of his errors going into the weekend.
"I think we were fortunate the first seven, eight holes, really no wind at all. So when you play an a links golf course with no wind, you can make some birdies," Rahm said.
"But you're always going to struggle through a couple holes and I tried to minimise as much as possible.
"I would say through the whole tournament yesterday and today, maybe short game needs to be a little bit better, when I miss a green, give myself better chances for par. You know, hopefully clean up a couple mistakes."
The feature group after 36 holes 📊#abrdnScottishOpen #RolexSeries
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Thomas, the World Number Three, opened up with a bogey free 65 on Thursday but found it more difficult in round two after mixing five birdies with two dropped shots to sit at eight under.
The American, targeting his maiden Rolex Series title, was delighted to be in contention and believes he will improve over the final two rounds.
"Far from my best stuff but really managed my game well but I played solid," he said. "Haven't played bad by any means but haven't gotten any runs going.
"This is a course where you can do things like Jon, and I can play a five or six-hole stretch four, five, six-under, and I haven't done that yet. But I feel like I'm close.
"Just need to sharpen things up and get the ball started better on line with my irons and I feel like it can happen.
"I didn't quite get much out of it today but I just got to start hitting my irons and approach shots closer to the hole."
