Hero Open 2022: Sean Crocker holds lead, Wilco Nienaber, Ewen Ferguson surge with course records at Fairmont
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Updated 29/07/2022 at 18:25 GMT
Sean Crocker spoke after his first round at the Hero Open that his slump in form earlier in the year taught him an awful lot and toughened him up mentally. He backed up his fine opening round with a solid display at Fairmont St Andrews to retain the lead, while Ewen Ferguson posted a stunning course record. Crocker holds a one-shot lead over Scott Jamieson.
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Sean Crocker retained the lead at the Hero Open, but Ewen Ferguson and Wilco Nienaber stole the show with stunning course records at Fairmont St Andrews.
After a dire run of form that featured nine missed cuts in a row, Crocker found his stride with a brilliant opening round of 63 - a course record for 24 hours.
Backing up a hot round is not always easy, but Crocker did that as he made six birdies in his round of 66 to move to 15-under par at the halfway stage.
“It was nice,” Crocker said. “It is always tough to come back out the next day after playing really well.
“It was calm and nice and got off to a decent start, and kept plodding along.”
Crocker has been extremely sharp with the putter this week, and the greens in St Andrews would appear to be to the American’s liking.
Second Round Leaderboard
- 1. Sean Crocker, 15-under
- 2. Scott Jamieson, 14-under
- T3. Adrian Otaegui, 13-under
- T3. Jens Dantorp, 13-under
- T3. David Law, 13-under
- T3. Jonathan Thompson, 13-under
- T3. Ross Fisher, 13-under
- T8. Jorge Campillo, 12-under
- T8. Romain Langasque, 12-under
- T8. Aman Gupta, 12-under
- T8. Wilco Nienaber, 12-under
- T8. Oliver Farr, 12-under
“I enjoy the greens,” added Crocker. “We're getting up, picking a line and not thinking too much and just stroking it.”
Crocker holds a one-shot lead over Scott Jamieson, while David Law, Adrian Otaegui, Jens Dantorp and Jonathan Thompson are on 13-under.
Ferguson catapulted himself into contention with a blistering couse-record round of 61. He began Friday in danger of missing the cut after an opening 18 holes of one-over par, but he covered the back nine in 29 strokes to get to 10-under.
Ferguson has revealed that some old-fashioned work with his coach led to a turnaround in his fortunes on the greens.
“I played incredible and putted a lot better than I have been,” Ferguson said. “I’ve been working on that a lot with my dad and Gougie (Jamie Gough, coach) to try and get the stroke right because the tempo was out.
“I still couldn’t get it then I woke up this morning feeling knackered and with not much hope because the scoring had been so low. But Goughie came up to me with a piece of string that he put on the ground and told me to start hitting putts.
“I kept pulling it and he was telling me ‘you are aiming left’ and I could see the line on my putter was aiming left. So he got me to put my hands forward and, though I felt it was abnormal, he took a video and I could see it actually looked normal and I started banging them.”
Andy Sullivan is a birdie machine when at his best and he carded a second successive 67 to get to 10-under, while Eddie Pepperell - who is starting to find form after a dreadful spell - is on 11-under after adding a 66 to his opening 67.
The afternoon starters had a tough time of things, as a freshening wind made holding the greens very difficult.
Nienaber was one of the few to get to grips with the wind, and his effort in firing a 61 to match Ferguson’s course record could be marked up further.
The South African moved up to 12-under, one shot behind Ross Fisher who also impressed in shooting 66 from a late tee time.
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