ST ANDREWS, September 30, 2011 (AFP) - English youngster Tommy Fleetwood grabbed a share of the lead at the Dunhill Links Championship on Friday to leave himself on course for a rare double this weekend.
The 20-year-old from Merseyside has been plying his trade on Europe's second tier Challenge Tour this year, where he claimed £55,000 in winnings earlier this month with victory in the Kazakhstan Open.
However a nine-under-par 63 at Kingsbarns on Friday has left Fleetwood in the frame to pocket nearly 10 times that amount with roughly £505,000 (588,000 euros) on offer to the winner of the Dunhill.
Fleetwood's superb round included nine birdies and no bogeys to leave him at 12 under par for the tournament, joining Northern Ireland's Michael Hoey (66) at the top of the leaderboard.
Fleetwood, a former English amateur champion and Walker Cup player who only turned pro last year, said he was playing without pressure following his win in Kazakhstan which secured his European Tour card next season.
"The last couple of weeks I've had no pressure on me really. I know where I'm playing next year, which is great, and it's definitely given me confidence because there was a bit of thought of 'Can I win?' because I had been in there so many times," Fleetwood said.
"I finally got it done, so let's see if I can do it on the bigger stage now."
Whether Fleetwood manages to hold his nerve over the weekend in the Pro-Am event remains to be seen.
Former Open champion Louis Oosthuizen, who lifted the Claret Jug at St Andrews in 2010, is one off the lead after shooting a 67 at Carnoustie on Friday following his opening 66 at Kingsbarns.
Germany's Martin Kaymer is also lurking menacingly, three shots off the lead on nine-under after carding a 67. Lee Westwood and Rory McIlroy are two shots back on seven-under after carding 67s.
One of the richest tournaments on the European Tour, the Alfred Dunhill Links is played over three different courses at St Andrews, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns before a cut whittles the field down for Sunday's final round at St Andrews.
Leading and selected second round scores in the European Tour Alfred Dunhill Links Championship being played at the Old Course St. Andrews, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns on Friday (GBR and IRL unless stated, par 72):
St Andrews Old Course
134 - Marc Warren 67-67
136 - George Murray 70-66, Jamie Donaldson 71-65
137 - Nicolas Colsaerts (BEL) 70-67, David Horsey 69-68, Pablo Larrazabal (ESP) 71-66
138 - Alex Haindl (RSA) 72-66, John Daly (USA) 71-67, Nick Dougherty 73-65, Danny Willett 73-65
139 - Martin Wiegele (AUT) 70-69, Matt Haines 71-68, Jbe Kruger (RSA) 72-67, David Lynn 70-69, Sandy Lyle 69-70
140 - Thorbjorn Olesen (DEN) 74-66, Jack Senior 69-71, Andrew Dodt (AUS) 70-70, Maarten Lafeber (NED) 73-67, Mark Foster 74-66
141 - Robert Jan Derksen (NED) 72-69, Thomas Aiken (RSA) 73-68, Mark Tullo (CHI) 72-69, Ross Fisher 72-69, Robert Coles 75-66, Oliver Wilson 72-69, Anthony Kang (USA) 73-68, Michiel Bothma (RSA) 74-67, Benjamin Hebert (FRA) 74-67
142 - Peter Karmis (RSA) 75-67, Johan Edfors (SWE) 70-72
Selected:
143 - Bronson La Cassie (AUS) 72-71, Marcus Fraser (AUS) 77-66
144 - Andre Stolz (AUS) 73-71, Peter O'Malley (AUS) 72-72
146 - Pariya Junhasavasdikul (THA) 74-72
148 - David McKenzie (AUS) 76-72, Josh Cunliffe (RSA) 76-72
152 - Aaron Townsend (AUS) 79-73
Carnoustie Course
133 - Louis Oosthuizen (RSA) 66-67
134 - Graeme McDowell 67-67, Jaco Van Zyl (RSA) 67-67
135 - Martin Kaymer (GER) 68-67, Rafael Cabrera Bello (ESP) 66-69
136 - James Morrison 67-69
137 - Peter Hanson (SWE) 68-69, Rory McIlroy 70-67, Tom Lewis 68-69, Lee Westwood 68-69
138 - Charl Schwartzel (RSA) 69-69, Alejandro Canizares (ESP) 71-67, James Byrne 67-71, Gregory Havret (FRA) 67-71
139 - Lorenzo Gagli (ITA) 68-71, Padraig Harrington 68-71
140 - Colin Montgomerie 68-72, Luke Donald 69-71, Simon Dyson 69-71, Simon Khan 70-70
141 - J J Henry (USA) 71-70, Alexander Noren (SWE) 69-72, Stephen Dodd 69-72, Ernie Els (RSA) 72-69, George Coetzee (RSA) 72-69
142 - Jeppe Huldahl (DEN) 70-72, Retief Goosen (RSA) 72-70, Miguel Angel Jimenez (ESP) 73-69, Matteo Manassero (ITA) 71-71, Matthew Griffin (AUS) 72-70
Selected:
143 - Gareth Paddison (NZL) 71-72, Scott Hend (AUS) 74-69, Matthew Zions (AUS) 73-70
144 - Tjaart Van Der Walt (RSA) 73-71
146 - Thomas Bjorn (DEN) 70-76, Rohan Blizard (AUS) 76-70
147 - Darren Clarke 73-74
150 - Steven Jones (AUS) 76-74, Mark Brown (NZL) 73-77
155 - Anthony Michael (RSA) 76-79
Kingsbarns Course
132 - Tommy Fleetwood 69-63, Michael Hoey 66-66
134 - Daniel Gaunt (AUS) 69-65, Markus Brier (AUT) 66-68
136 - Steve Webster 68-68, Romain Wattel (FRA) 68-68, Mathias Gronberg (SWE) 71-65, Tano Goya (ARG) 69-67, Fredrik Andersson Hed (SWE) 68-68
137 - Shane Lowry 68-69, Peter Lawrie 70-67
138 - Brett Rumford (AUS) 73-65, Richie Ramsay 72-66, Oskar Henningsson (SWE) 71-67
139 - Christian Cevaer (FRA) 73-66, Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (FRA) 73-66, Paul Lawrie 71-68, Gregory Bourdy (FRA) 69-70, Bradley Dredge 71-68
140 - James Kingston (RSA) 69-71, Joost Luiten (NED) 72-68, Richard McEvoy 73-67, Scott Jamieson 73-67, Oliver Fisher 71-69
141 - Alvaro Velasco (ESP) 74-67, Michael Jonzon (SWE) 75-66, Johnson Wagner (USA) 73-68
142 - David Drysdale 69-73, Stephen Gallacher 74-68, Marcus Both (AUS) 71-71, David Dixon 74-68, Ross McGowan 72-70, Patrick Reed (USA) 71-71
Selected:
143 - Keith Horne (RSA) 74-69, Todd Hamilton (USA) 72-71, Henrik Stenson (SWE) 71-72, Thongchai Jaidee (THA) 73-70
144 - Michael Campbell (NZL) 70-74, Kieran Pratt (AUS) 75-69, Neil Schietekat (RSA) 73-71
147 - Scott Strange (AUS) 76-71
152 - David Bransdon (AUS) 80-72