Swedish star Ludvig Åberg set an imposing clubhouse target in pursuit of the biggest win of his young career in the £7million Genesis Scottish Open.
Åberg exploited ideal conditions at the Renaissance Club to card a second successive 64 for a halfway total of 12 under par, one shot ahead of France’s Antoine Rozner.
Rozner, who has yet to drop a shot this week, added a 64 to his opening 65 while Italy’s Matteo Manassero and South Korea’s Sungjae Im were on 10 under after rounds of 63 and 67 respectively.
“It’s been very nice,” Åberg said with typical understatement. “I felt like we’ve had a very good game plan and are executing the shots.
“We try not to force anything. We try to have a lot of acceptance when we play and make sure that we put good swings on it, and give ourselves plenty of chances, which I felt like we’ve done very well.
“There’s, what, 150-something players in the field? No-one is going to play perfect golf for 72 holes.
“I think things like a bad bounce are going to happen to everyone at some point and, whenever that happens, you’ve just got to try to deal with it the best you can.”
Åberg only turned professional in June last year but won the final Ryder Cup qualifying event in Switzerland at the start of September and was hailed as a “generational talent” when given a wild card by Europe captain Luke Donald.
The 24-year-old partnered Viktor Hovland to a record 9&7 thrashing of world number one Scottie Scheffler and five-time major winner Brooks Koepka in Rome as Europe regained the trophy, and two months later won his first title on the PGA Tour.
Åberg then finished runner-up to Scheffler in April’s Masters on his major championship debut and held the halfway lead in last month’s US Open, but is determined not to let success go to his head.
“I wouldn’t describe myself as a superstar. All I try to do is play good golf,” Åberg said.
“Whether these last 12 months have changed my life on the golf course, it hasn’t really changed my life off the golf course. I’m still me and I’m still the same personality and that’s not going to change in the future.”
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