Matt Fitzpatrick's stunning season continued in the second round of the 2022 Genesis Scottish Open as he played himself into contention with a four-under-par 66.
The 27-year-old U.S. Open Championship winner knows all about The Renaissance Club, having come up just short in a three-man play-off here last year, with Min Woo Lee taking home the title.
After shooting an opening 71 in difficult weather conditions on Thursday afternoon, newly-crowned Major Champion Fitzpatrick showed what he is capable of, firing six birdies and storming into contention despite two late bogeys.
His three-under total gave him a share of fourth place heading into the weekend.
Starting from the tenth tee on Friday morning, Fitzpatrick got up and down from behind the green for an opening birdie before making it two in a row from ten feet on the 11th.
The Englishman's hot putter helped him make further birdies at the 15th and 16th as he reached the turn in 31.
He said: "The wind has died since this morning so to score what I did on the back nine I was absolutely delighted. I played really solid and made putts."
After sending his tee-shot into the tall grass at the second, Fitzpatrick played a beautiful recovery shot before holing his enormous birdie putt to somehow walk away from that hole with a three.
The eight-time DP World Tour winner rattled in another birdie putt at the fourth - this time from nine feet - before safely parring the next three holes.
His first bogey of the day arrived at the eighth after he missed the green with his approach shot and he gave another shot back at the short ninth hole when he missed the green to the left with his tee-shot.
The Englishman is known for putting in the hours and then some in his bid to keep improving and much has been made of the length he has added off the tee.
He said: "I've worked hard at it for the last two years. What was interesting was I picked up a couple of injuries during the summer last year, stopped doing the speed stuff and my driving got worse.
"At the back end of the year I felt it was really important to pick it back up again and I felt I really worked hard in the off-season to make some changes in the areas I needed to improve - length being one of them and I came out at the start of the season quite a bit longer.
"Approach play, we made a pretty significant change to my swing when it came to my irons, particularly on the back swing.
"Chipping cack-handed has given me the results I wanted. It's one of those, until you try it you never know.
"If anything, the putter has kind of let me down a little bit this year and not been as good as previous years but I'm delighted with the season so far."
