It wasn’t quite as good as his first round, but Bryce Easton’s level-par 72 on Friday has kept him in contention going into the weekend of the European Tour’s Scottish Championship presented by AXA at Fairmont St Andrews, St Andrews in Fife.
He opened with a seven-under 65 on Thursday, which included a closing eagle three on the 18th, but he found things a little tougher in the second round, making two birdies and two bogeys to take up a share of 11th position behind joint leaders Matt Wallace of England and Adrian Otaegui of Spain who were on 12-under at halfway, five shots ahead of Easton.
Sharing 11th with Easton was Brandon Stone, who added a two-under 70 to his opening 67. He made three birdies in his round, but dropped a shot on the 10th when he hit his tee shot into an unplayable spot and had to take a penalty stroke.
The round of the day belonged to Justin Harding, who rebounded from a depressing opening three-over 75 with a birdie-laden eight-under. After finishing his first round with back to back birdies to banish the memory of the double bogey he made at the 12th, Harding carried on making gains on Friday. Starting from the 10th tee, he mixed five birdies with two bogeys on his front nine before picking up five more shots down the stretch to sign for a 64 and head into the weekend on five-under-par.
Justin Walters was on three-under after 36 holes, while Dean Burmester missed the cut.
