Rolex Series

Alejandro del Rey grabs his chance in Scotland

Alejandro del Rey carded the lowest round of his DP World Tour career to make the most of his late opportunity at the Genesis Scottish Open.

The Spaniard was the last man in the field for the second Rolex Series event of the season after the withdrawal of Sebastian Söderberg and carded a productive opening 69 on Thursday.

He then followed that with a 62 on day two, starting his round with six straight birdies to catapult himself up the leaderboard and get within three of 36-hole leader Ludvig Åberg.

The 26-year-old has previously carded a 58 on the European Challenge Tour and admitted he was thinking of another sub-60 round after his fast start.

"It's playing a par-70 so it's a touch easier but you can never say it's easy shooting 59," he said.

"After six holes, I was six under through six but still didn't feel like I was hitting the ball as good as I probably wanted. 

"Hitting decent shots at the right moment and making putts but I still struggled a little bit off the tee all day. Trying to keep it in the fairway, that's been tough so far this week."

The hopes of a 59 were very real when Del Rey also birdied the tenth after turning in 29 but he bogeyed the 12th before making gains on the 13th and 16th.

He also outshone playing partners Adam Scott and Rickie Fowler and was delighted to play well with the Australian after firing a 77 in his company at the Hero Dubai Desert Classic earlier this year.

"It was really sweet," he said. "I played with Adam in Dubai, the final round. I shot a trillion shots... so I wanted my revenge out here this week.

"But it was fun. He was very nice both days with me and just playing with two very good players, it's always amazing. You pick a little bit of their game and you see where I still need to grow."

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