DP World Tour : Nexo Championship Tee Times Leaderboard
Matthew Southgate underlined his reputation as a links specialist to withstand sustained winds at Trump International Golf Links and claim a one-shot halfway lead at the Nexo Championship.
On another day of testing conditions, scoring proved tough over the Martin Hawtree-designed Old Course in Aberdeenshire with Scottish duo Connor Syme and Martin Laird the only players to be bogey free on Friday.
Southgate carded a second consecutive 70, featuring a chip-in eagle late in his second round, to claim the solo lead at -4
England's Matthew Jordan, runner-up last week in Denmark, home hope Scott Jamieson, Sweden's first-round leader Marcus Kinhult and South Africa's Shaun Norris are a shot further back at -3
Nine shots separate the leader and those who made the cut at +5 the highest mark so far this season on the DP World Tour.
SOUTHGATE STORY
Southgate, who is playing without full playing privileges on the DP World Tour this season, claimed his first title on the HotelPlanner Tour at the Swiss Challenge in June.
Later that month, he earned a spot at The Open via Final Qualifying for a remarkable 6th time in his career.
The 37-year-old is making just his fifth DP World Tour start this season but he is in the mix to become the 14th first-time winner on the 2026 Race to Dubai campaign.
Fellow Englishman Jordan is another targeting his breakthrough DP World Tour win, and he has carried over momentum from his near miss at the Danish Golf Championship.
A remarkable start to his round, which saw him birdie his opening three holes and then eagle the par five fourth, lifted the 30-year-old to -5 and into a two-shot advantage of the early clubhouse lead.
A missed par putt from inside of five feet at the 14th saw him once again drop back to -2 but he ended his day on a high with a birdie at the par five last for -3
"Going out, you know with two par fives kind of downwind, and the way the wind is and the course is playing, that you do obviously want to get off to a good start," he said.
"You are going to hit bad shots, and you are going make mistakes. I mean, it was difficult in terms of mentally too, there was a couple of times with some of the short putts that I missed, that I might have got influenced slightly when I was over it and stuff like that. It’s not just the drives, it's not just some of the iron plays, it’s all round, really."
Florida-based Jamieson, among the morning starters, is 135th in the Race to Dubai Rankings and in need of a big performance to help his cause to retain his playing rights for next season.
The 42-year-old burst out of the blocks with three birdies in his opening four holes as he took advantage of a stretch of the course that played downwind. He then bogeyed four of his next 11 holes, but he enjoyed a strong finish with gains at the 16th and 18th for a 71.
Kinhult conceded to not having his best golf on Thursday despite an opening 67, and he bookended his second round with birdies to card a 74.
There was then a six strong group of players at -2, that featured English amateur Eliot Baker, Japan's Keita Nakajima, Denmark's Jacob Skov Olesen, Italy's Matteo Manassero, Spain's Quim Vidal and Zimbabwe's Benjamin Folllett-Smith.
Syme carded a 68 for the best round of the day to get to -1.
europeantour.com
Bryan Angus (edit)
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