Mansell hits top gear to go into pole position to land Dunhill Links win
Richard Mansell’s investment in a return plane ticket to Italy to collect his clubs after they failed to show up ahead of the French Open is paying off handsomely at the Home of Golf.
The Englishman ended up missing the cut at both the Italian and French Opens, but he’s quids in at the Old Course after moving four shots clear at the Dunhill Links Championship yesterday.
Mansell is within touching distance of a maiden DP World Tour win and a cheque for $850,000 after adding a 67 at Carnoustie to rounds of 66 and 68 to stretch his lead in the $5-million tournament.
Now he needs one final push to claim a life-changing victory in one of the biggest events on the circuit.
Despite his lack of big-game experience, the 27-year-old is confident that he’ll be able to cope with the pressure of being hunted by a chasing pack led by the trio of Swede Alex Noren, England’s Daniel Gavins and Ryan Fox of New Zealand in joint second spot on 11-under.
He said: “It’s about not worrying about anyone else. My game is in a good place and I’ve proved that here. Hopefully I can have one more good round tomorrow.
“I’ve missed consecutive cuts the last couple of weeks, but I’ve been playing a lot of good stuff recently so it’s been a case of not worrying about these two tournaments.
“I’ve been in contention a lot this year and had chances on Sundays and they say in golf that when you don’t win, you learn. That’s what I feel like I’ve done really well.
“It’s St Andrews and anything can happen. People can shoot 60. But I’m just really focused on myself right now and I’m going to try to shoot a good score tomorrow.
“Today I played brilliantly on the back nine. I birdied 10, had a horseshoe lip out on 11, birdied 12 after having a 20-footer for eagle.
“I had another 20-foot putt for eagle on the next par-5 and hit it close on every par-3 before a really good two-putt on 17 which I followed up by hitting my drive exactly where I was aiming at down the last before rolling it in for a birdie.”
There are nine players within seven shots of Mansell, whose only professional win was achieved on the EuroPro Tour.
One shot further back on sevenunder, Oban’s Bob MacIntyre and Fife’s Connor Syme sit alongside world No. 2 Rory McIlroy after rounds of 71 and 65 at the Old Course and Kingsbarns respectively.
However, MacIntyre’s dislike of the Old Course intensified yesterday when he finished bogey-bogey.
He said: “I can’t play this golf course if my life depended on it. I’m absolutely useless on the back nine – it’s as simple as that.
“It’s just a golf course that I can’t play. The Open was torture and I knew coming in that 15, 16 and 17 are just killer holes for me.
“I’m not going to compete here. It just doesn’t suit me. I’ll give it my best shot tomorrow, but when it comes to the crunch it’s the
finishing holes.”
Battling Belgian Thomas Pieters produced one of the most remarkable turnarounds in the tournament’s long history after fearing that he would be heading home early.
The six-time DP World Tour champion followed an opening 65 at Carnoustie with an ugly 83 at Kingsbarns to sit four-over at halfway.
But Pieters – winner of the Abu Dhabi Championship earlier in the season – undertook a spectacular
salvage operation to rescue his hopes with an eight-under 64 at the Old Course to climb into the top-30.
Convinced he had no chance of making the cut, Pieters confessed that he chucked it two-thirds of his way through his second round.
He said: “I threw in the towel after 11 or 12 holes. Everything was wet and I couldn’t swing, couldn’t feel my hands.
“Yesterday had nothing to do with golf and I don’t think we should have been playing.
“Now I’m obviously very happy that I played well and shot 64. In fact I missed a three-footer for another birdie.”