Derren Fichardt carded a gritty level-par 72 on Friday in tough conditions in the Legends Tour’s Staysure PGA Seniors Championship as he progressed to three-over-par for the tournament and a share of eighth at Trump International Golf Links in Aberdeen, Scotland.
Fichardt made seven birdies, three bogeys and two double-bogeys to go with his opening three-over 75, and he will take on the weekend five strokes behind the leader, Andrew Marshall of England. Marshall’s three-under 69 was the best round of the tournament so far, and, at three-under, he had a one-stroke lead over Spain’s Carlos Bamaseda.
Despite the organisers having brought forward a number of tees and slowed the greens to mitigate the strong winds, the players in first and second were the only players under par.
Marshall’s 69 was a stunning round in extremely challenging conditions. He opened up with five birdies in his first seven holes and was steady thereafter, despite dropping a couple of shots on the back nine.
“I knew I was playing well,” said Marshall. “I got off to an incredible start, and I just didn’t think too much about it, just kept hitting the ball and it was going in. I just hit less club, put it in play, and I could see a lot of people tearing their hair out because they’re hitting driver trying to pick up shots. I just tried to poke it down the middle and accept that four is a good score on any hole.”
As the only regular Legends Tour event with a halfway cut, Friday at the Staysure PGA Seniors Championship was a day of extra tension and jeopardy. Host Colin Montgomerie narrowly missed out but his fellow Ryder Cup captains José María Olazábal and Paul McGinley both battled their way through, as did major winners Rich Beem and Shaun Micheel, along with 1999 Open champion Paul Lawrie who sits at six-over, tied for 21st.
The cut fell at 14-under, and Keith Horne was one player who squeaked through on the number.
Doug McGuigan was in a share of 21st on six-over after a second round of five-over 77, while James Kingston’s one-over 73 took him to eight-over and a share of 29th. Adlson Da Silva was on nine-over, and Wallie Coetzee was on 12-over.
