Englishmen Robert Coles and Robert Rock lead the Ryder Cup Wales Challenge at the halfway stage after respective rounds of 66 and 67 gave them a shared aggregate total of 11 under par 131.
Coles, already a winner on the European Challenge Tour this season after capturing the BA CA Golf Open presented by Telekom Austria, had to overcome a mini crisis of confidence on the front nine during his second round after making three bogeys in a row.
But he recovered brilliantly, coming home in 31 (five under) on the back nine to take a share of the lead with Rock, whose 67 over the De Vere Northop Country Park course contained six birdies and two dropped shots.
“I had a really good back nine today,” said Coles, “which is just as well because my confidence went on the front nine after I made three bogeys in a row at the fourth fifth and sixth. Two of them were three putts and when you get in to situations like that you start to really worry about it.
“Then, on the seventh, I missed from four feet for birdie and had a two footer coming back that I made but you wouldn’t believe how much I worried about it.
“It’s ridiculous when you consider that I putted brilliantly yesterday for the whole round and have been very confident on the greens in general for a couple of months now. But as soon I missed a couple of short ones out there today I start thinking that I’ll never get one in.
“But I recovered quite quickly from my little crisis with a birdie on the eighth and that brought my confidence straight back.”
Rock could not quite recapture the for that saw him record a sizzling 64 in the first round, but was philosophical with two rounds to go.
“I didn’t play as well as I did yesterday,” he said. “I was putting my wedge shots to within inches yesterday and I had quite a few tap in birdies but that just wasn’t happening for me today for some reason.
“It’s difficult to say why that is. I felt the same today as I had during the first round but for it just didn’t happen for me.
“Hopefully I can play better tomorrow – I’ll have to beat Robert Coles because he is in great form at the moment. But in saying that, I came with the priority of getting into the top ten so I’ll be happy enough to finish there on Sunday – although it would be great to win.”
Gary Clark matched Rock’s 67 to sit one off the pace at the top of the leaderboard.
Said Clark: “I had a bad finish today, which leaves a bit of a sour taste in the mouth but I can’t really complain. I’m in a great position for the weekend and I just hope I can take advantage of that because I was up there last weekend and played poorly. It would be good to do the business this week.
“I’m currently 53rd on the Challenge Tour Rankings and I could do with a good finish to guarantee my place in the Grand Final, which is important to me.”
Craig Williams is flying the flag for Wales at eight under after a superb second round, seven under par 64 placed him alongside Mattias Eliasson of Sweden, Englishman John Mellor and New Zealander Gareth Paddison in a tie for fifth position.
The 25 year old Welshman was delighted with his second round performance over a course that holds fond memories for him. Williams won the Welsh Amateur Strokeplay Championship at the De Vere Northop Country Park Golf Club in 1999.
“It was a really good round – I thoroughly enjoyed it out there today,” said Williams. “It’s always nice to go round 18 holes without a bogey on the card.
“I’ve been playing really steady all year, making a lot of cuts but not getting particularly high finishes. My best was tied 18th at the Talma Finnish Challenge so hopefully this weekend I can improve on that.
“I’ve got good memories of this course as well and it always helps if you have an affection for a certain place. I won the Welsh Amateur Strokeplay Championship here a few years back so I have really good memories of this course.”
Williams’s fellow countryman, Garry Houston, was awarded a bottle of champagne by the De Vere Northop Country Park Golf Club for scoring a hole in one during round one. The 32 year old – who lives just a few miles from the course – aced a perfect five iron from 196 yards at the par three 14th hole.
The cut was set at three under par, with 50 professionals (plus one amateur) battling for the €20,000 first prize.
