Chris Lloyd compared his stunning nine under par second round of 62 to a game of darts after he announced his return from injury by climbing 106 places and right into contention going into the weekend’s play at the Scottish Hydro Challenge hosted by Macdonald Hotels and Resorts.
The Englishman was down and out after five holes of his second round at Macdonald Spey Valley Golf Club in Aviemore, a double bogey at the 14th, his fourth hole, leaving him at three over par for the tournament and 14 shots off the lead.
Lloyd then proceeded to embark on a stunning run, birdieing the 16th and 17th holes before carding eight birdies in the final 11 holes.
It was a welcome return to form for the 20 year old, who is in 15th place in the Rankings after an encouraging start to the season was hampered by a wrist injury which ruled him out for a month.
“I've been out injured for about three weeks and I had a nightmare at St Omer,” said Lloyd, whose best finish came courtesy of a runner-up place at the Pacific Rubiales Colombia Classic in March. “Then the first day here was up and down as well but as soon as I got it going it was like my old self.
“I struggled last week and it’s been frustrating not to play but it was just good swing after good swing. I holed a couple of nice putts, don’t get me wrong, but the majority I was just holing out from six feet so it was pretty cool I have to say.
“It was like throwing darts a little bit with the greens quite soft. It was really nice to get some confidence back after five or six weeks of being out injured and not doing well.
“It was frustrating. It flared up at the wrong time because I had a good run of events to look forward to and then I had to miss them and then going to St Omer you have to play because it’s such a big opportunity but I really struggled and my head wasn’t right.
“My wrist was fine, in my head I was just giving myself a really hard time. I missed the cut here last year so that was in the back of my mind and then being three over through 22 holes for the tournament I was thinking ‘right we’ll be going home again in the morning’ but it just spun round and I'm very, very pleased.”
