29 Aug 2020 | Professional golf |
Gritty Scott pushes for Atlanta
by Martin Blake
Adam Scott remains in the mix at a penal BMW Championship in Chicago after round two.
The Australian shot a one-under par 69 – brilliant in the circumstances – to climb into a tie for fifth at one-over par overall through two rounds at the Olympia Club today.
He is just two shots back from the lead held by Rory McIlroy and Patrick Cantlay, who are the only two players in the 69-player field who are in red numbers on a course set up with deep rough, hard greens and more akin to a US Open.
Scott, 40, made a bogey at his last hole, the ninth, which was a somewhat sour way to finish after his tee shot left him with a chip-out. He missed a sliding two-metre putt to save par, but overall he has been steady again this week, rolling in four birdie putts today.
The world No. 11 came into the BMW ranked 38th on the Fedex Cup points list needing to climb into the top 30 to reach the Tour Championship in Atlanta, a tournament that he previously won in 2006. That equates to a top-five finish in this week’s tournament, but he remains on track.
The other Australians have struggled. Queenslanders Cameron Smith (75-73) and Jason Day (76-74) are off the pace with Smith needing to be in the top 56 in Chicago to graduate to the Tour Championship and Day just about out of the running for the season-ender.
Marc Leishman (80-78) is already in the field for Atlanta next week, even though he is off his game.
Meanwhile McIlroy put a new putter in his bag and profited from that in his 69 today, and world No.1 Dustin Johnson is in the mix again at even-par. Tiger Woods, who needs to be in the top echelon to reach Atlanta, is well back at eight-over par.
ON THE European Tour, Jake McLeod, Min Woo Lee and Wade Ormsby are all tied-24th at two-under par in the ISPS Handa UK Championship.