Home favourite Scott Henry was delighted to match the best score of the week as a second round 65 moved him into contention for the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles.
The 26 year old European Tour rookie had opened with a level par 72 but started his second round with four birdies in a row and, after consecutive bogeys at the ninth and tenth, gained five shots on the way in for a seven under par total.
That moved Challenge Tour graduate Henry into a share of ninth, seven behind runaway leader Ricardo Gonzalez.
“There was a lot of good stuff in there, even though I'm not comfortable with my game this week, confidence grew from the start I had,” said Henry.
“Yesterday there was a lot of bad holes; I think there was a bit of rust there after being off for three weeks, not competing and I felt like it was birdie, bogey, birdie, bogey, so it was up and down.
“Today was a bit sharper with the short stuff and my short game is better, and I managed to get up-and-down for par a couple of times.”
Henry’s best finish on The European Tour this season is 15th at St Omer, but he hopes to improve on that over the weekend.
“I felt like the more I've played, the better I've got,” he added. “I've started to play better, be more comfortable. Although I've not played the course much, I'm familiar with the area and the place and feeling all right at the moment.
“I think it's going to need to be a couple low ones. Probably need to be 12 under over the weekend, something along those lines. It's always difficult to lead a tournament, but I'll just keep chipping away - if I can keep playing the way I did today, then I'll be obviously happy.”
