Carnoustie hounds Fox
The Carnoustie Golf Links course was generous to some, but not for Ryan Fox as the Kiwi drifted well off the pace on the second day of a European Tour event in Scotland.
Fox slumped from third overnight to a share of 50th place at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championships after carding a one-over 73.
That wasn’t in the same class as English co-leaders Tommy Fleetwood and Tyrell Hatton, who sizzled around Carnoustie with 63 and 65 respectively. It was a course record for Fleetwood, a two-time Tour winner this year.
It leaves the leading pair eight shots clear of Fox, whose third round is at the Kingsbarns Golf Links.
The tournament is played at three courses and with a unique format that sees the players paired with a non-professional playing partner.
Fox is paired this week with former Australian cricket great Shane Warne. They share seventh place on the teams leaderboard, on 18-under.
Fleetwood broke the course record by shooting 9-under to tie for the lead with defending champion Hatton. The English golfers were a stroke clear of Nicolas Colsaerts, and two ahead of Paul Dunne and Marcel Siem.
Playing his first event since becoming a father for the first time last week, Fleetwood birdied six of the last eight holes to complete a bogeyfree round and beat the course record by a shot. Carnoustie is
regarded as the most difficult of the three courses.
Kingsbarns and the Old Course at St Andrews are the others, with players alternating between the three in the first three rounds before playing at St Andrews again for the final round.
Fleetwood holds a big lead in the Race to Dubai rankings despite playing in only one of the last seven tournaments on the European Tour. This season, he has won the Abu Dhabi Championship and the French Open, finished second at a World Golf Championship in Mexico, and placed fourth at the US Open.
He has three top-five finishes at the Dunhill Links, which he says is one of his favourite events.
Hatton followed up a 68 at the Old Course with an even better round at Carnoustie, featuring birdies on four of the last six holes — including chipping in at the par-3 16th.
Rory McIlroy shot a 71 at Carnoustie and was even par after two rounds. Eleven shots off the lead, McIlroy is likely to finish a season without a victory.