Gary Evans completed a long and successful day on the PGA Centenary Course with a one shot lead in his locker at the halfway stage of the £1 million Gleneagles Scottish PGA Championship.
The 33 year old Englishman had to return at 7.30am to complete the final four holes of his fog-delayed first round, which he did with two closing birdies for a 66. He went on to add a flawless 67 in the afternoon for an 11 under par total of 133 and the slenderest of leads over Australian Peter Fowler, who carded a 68 for 134.
Welshman Mark Mouland, who partnered Evans, claimed third place on 135 after adding a second round 70 to his 65 which led the first round, while Greg Turner and Carlos Rodiles shared fourth on eight under par 136 after respective rounds of 67. But the day belonged to Evans.
Still searching for his maiden professional win in his tenth season on The European Tour, Evans produced form which suggested that eventuality might transpire on Sunday night, not dropping a single shot in his 22 holes of the day and picking up seven birdies in total.
“I am honestly feeling very comfortable with my swing at this moment and I just want to try to keep doing what I’m doing,” he said.
Evans admitted his upturn in recent form, which has seen him make 17 out of 21 cuts this season, had been helped by Sky Sports commentator Ewen Murray, who had taken over as his long-time coach Shaun Geddes, who now lives in Italy.
“I used to fly Shaun across five or six times a year but apart from being expensive, it was intermittent and there was not a great deal of consistency there - I don’t mean that bad of Shaun, it’s just he is in Italy and I’m in England.
“But with Ewen living only three or four miles down the road from me I can go back and see him on a Monday if I need to and he’s in contact with me closely. Being an ex-player and having been through the mill, I respect what he says – it is definitely a benefit speaking to someone like him.”
Second placed Peter Fowler looked to have dropped out of contention when his wayward tee shot at the short sixth hit a cart path and careered down a hill from where he took double bogey five to drop back to four under par for the tournament.
But the winner of the 1993 BMW International Open showed resilience which belied his lowly 136th position on the Volvo Order of Merit to battle back in fine style with six birdies in the remaining 12 holes, including at the 533 yard 18th where his spectacular chip from long grass to the left of the green finished a mere six inches from the hole.
“I hit the ball really good this morning, last night was steady but nothing spectacular,” he said. “But this afternoon I hit all my shots really well and finished it off by putting great so I’m pretty pleased.”
After a successful spell on The European Tour in the early 1990’s, the Australian lost his card at the end of the 1997 season and has struggled since to re-establish himself.
“I just started playing really badly,” he said. “I don’t know for what reason. It’s a long career and you have to get up all the time, you can’t just go through the motions when the cut is at one under par.
“You can play okay and shoot one over par and miss the cut and you look like a terrible player. The fact I played poorly I think is a result of just playing for a long time – I’ve been playing the Tour since I was 18 you know.”
“I had a few years away as well, moved the family back to New Zealand and taught for a couple of years and worked on my game. I played the Aussie Tour and a few pro-ams in New Zealand.
“It was enjoyable, met a lot of people and did a few different things but I want to play. I played a few exhibitions with Bob Charles and Billy Duncan and the like and talking to guys like that and asking them if they would still like to be playing competitively and they all said yes.
“I thought well I have the opportunity, I’m still young enough to do it and I am enjoying it now.”
Welshman Mouland held the first round lead with his 65 and although he did not quite reproduce the fireworks in his afternoon 70, he did end in style with an 18 foot putt for an eagle three on the ninth, his 18th.
Elsewhere the drama centred around the Ryder Cup points table and the varying fortunes of the players immediately outside the top 12.
Fourteenth placed Andrew Oldcorn kept his chances of making the top ten alive with a 67 to move into a tie for seventh place, 13th placed Andrew Coltart saw his chances diminish drastically when he missed the cut by a shot after his 74, while 15th placed Mathias Grönberg left himself a lot to do over the weekend when he made the cut right on the mark of level par after his 71.
