Bernd Ritthammer completed a masterful turnaround on day two of the Turkish Airlines Challenge as he recovered from a six over opening round of 78 to card a stunning course-record 66 at National Golf Club.
That score left the German on level par overall, just five shots off Welshman Oliver Farr’s lead, going into the weekend’s play at the Belek venue.
Having missed three cuts in his last three events, the 27 year old was delighted with his turn of fortunes in Turkey and is hoping he has returned to the kind of form which earned him a top ten finish at the season-opening Barclays Kenya Open.
“I am really happy with that,” said Ritthammer. “This game is so funny sometimes. Yesterday I felt like I hit more good shots but I shot six over and today I shot six under, having just tried to play more effective golf and holing more putts.
“I'm quite happy to have turned it around. Yesterday I was just missing the fairways narrowly but I just didn’t have as many shots in to the green and I made less putts of course. I played a very similar game but it can make a big difference in how you score.
“I do feel confident going into the weekend. I just have to hope the guys playing in the afternoon don’t go crazy and I might have a chance of a top ten. I've missed a few cuts in the last few weeks so it feels good to be where I am going into the weekend.
“I didn’t try to think at all about my result yesterday because I knew I shot six over but I didn’t play bad and I just made the mistakes at the wrong time. I wasn’t too upset and I think that helped me today. I just tried to play as well as I can and the patience paid off.
“I'm really hoping I can keep the course record. It’s not that windy today and it’s a lot softer out there so I think the scores will be a lot better today but we’ll see. I hope it will last a couple of hours at least!
“You come here and you think, ‘well it’s not very long and it might be a little bit tight’ but you go out and suddenly every hole is so tight so you have to focus on every shot and the greens are firm and elevated so if you miss it you’re left with a difficult flop shot. But you can still make a lot of birdies, which I showed today.”
