The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Jamieson focused on victor’ s trophy
S thecott Jamieson became the second Scot in successive weeks to shoot 61 on Spanish islands to jump from the pack into a share of second place in the European Tour’s Tenerife Open.
The Florida-based 37-year-old broke the course record at Golf Costa Adeje with his 10-under effort in the second round. That bounced him from near the cut mark to a shot behind halfway leader, Germany’s Nicolai von Dellinghausen.
But the ever-laconic Glasgow native was not overly impressed with his feat. He had a 60 at the Portuguese Open a few years ago after all and is much more focused on actually winning again.
“I don’t know if I’ll get anything for the course record,” he said. “While they’re always nice, I’ve had a few before and I’ve never put a scorecard on my wall at home.
“I’d always prefer a trophy at the end of the week rather than a course record.”
Jamieson opened strongly in Gran Canaria last week at 64 before flatlining a little to a top-30 finish and it is just an example of the way golf is, he reckons.
“It’s such a funny game,” he mused. “I just did the simple things well. I holed a couple of nice putts at the right time to get momentum on my side.
“The five par fives are all gettable here. If you take care of business there and you are playing well there are plenty of chances.”
A series of low scores shows he feels his game is the right place, if he puts the ball in play after being inconsistent in that regard during his first round 69.
“There are some tough holes outside of the par fives,” he added, having birdied all five of them among his 10 for the day. “Eight and nine – depending on where the flag is on nine it can be really tricky,” he said.
“On 14, the par three, again the pin position can make that really tough. If
you get good tee shots away on the par fives you would be disappointed not to birdie them.
“Off the tee yesterday I was not particularly good. I was better today, only hit one shot that didn’t really feel like it was I play. Hopefully those feelings I was having today can roll into the weekend.”
Grant Forrest was the other Scot to make ground on the second day in Tenerife. The East Lothian man’s 66 built on a back nine of 31 that included an eagle three at the 13th.
His eight-under total for
two rounds puts him in a share of 20th.
Richie Ramsay is the other Scot around for the weekend, comfortably making it after a fourunder 67.
Connor Syme, fifth last week after his 61 in the Canaries, was in good shape to make a comeback to make the cut but two late bogeys left him just the wrong side of the mark.
Calum Hill was also left a couple short of the cut mark on two-under as despite an eagle at 13, he could not do better than five pars to finish.