So weary he feels like he has to sleep for 80 per cent of every day, Thomas Pieters looked sprightly enough for the other 20 per cent as he remains within one of his lusty drives from the lead in the Alfred Dunhill Championship.
The Belgian Ryder Cup revelation added a 68 to his opening 70 to lie just five behind leader Ross Fisher going into today’s third round, and he heads for the familiar and reassuring ground of the Old Course while the Englishman, himself a former Team Europe player, is off to the lurking dangers of Carnoustie.
To be honest, we’re all a little tired at the Dunhill Links this year, even those who didn’t make the transatlantic trip to be here. The usual sophorific pace of play hardly helps either, although that’s nothing new.
At least there was a decent crowd to see Pieters smashing the ball at Kingsbarns yesterday, and he looked outstanding for 16 holes reaching six-under for the day and eight-under for the championship in the drizzley dreichness.
However at 17 another one of those monster drives caught a fairway bunker and he eventually had a double-bogey six with a three-putt – perhaps a sign of fatigue at last.
“It’s a shame because I was going along so nicely,” he said. “It’s been pretty relaxed but that one hurt.
“Tomorrow is the Old Course though and I’m looking forward to that. How many times do we get to play it a year, just the once? I didn’t have time for a practice round this year but I know it so well.
“I’ve been sleeping about 80 per cent of my day since I got here and I think I’m heading for bed right now. But I know if I put a really low one up there tomorrow I’ll be right in it.”
Fisher has form here before, finishing second after a play-off to Robert Karlsson when the big Swede won this event and the Race to Dubai. Yesterday’s 68 at the Old Course was ideal for the conditions – four birdie with the wind on the front nine, hanging on with three birdies and three boigeys on the way home.
“You’re hanging on a bit but if you hit good shots you’ve still got birdie chances,” he said. “I’ve been making a lot of birdies lately, I had something like 50 in 11 rounds of golf but too many mistakes as well.
“I just love coming here for this tournament, I had my chance in 2008 in a playoff there with Roibert Karlsson and Martin Kaymer. It’s a fantastic event.
“Hopefully there are more birdies tomorrow, but that’s a different test. There’s no getaways there, it’s a fantastic golf course.
“At Kingsbarns and St Andrews you can get away with things a little bit sometimes but at Carnoustie you’ve got to be on your game. But If I can keep playing like I have been the last two days I feel I’ve got a good chance of making a good score.”
First round leader Alex Noren had a much more mixed bag at Kingsbarns with an eagle, four birdies, three bogeys and a double mixed in his one-under 71, allowing Sweden’s Joakim Lagergren to move into second with a 68 at the same venue.
The 24-year-old, whose best finish on tour was his fifth in Denmark a couple of months ago, hasn’t dropped a shot so far. Tyrrell Hatton, who always seems to do pretty well at the Old Course, isn’t too far away at seven-under.
Meanwhile, it seems that we were wrong; things could get worse for Lee Westwood.
No doubt as weary as most from his travails at Hazeltine at the weekend, the Aunt Sally of Europe’s Ryder Cup loss suffered more indignities at the Dunhill Links.
His 82 in the second round at Kingbarns – supposed to be the easiest of the three courses in play – is his worst round in a tournament for over 14 years, since the 83 at the PGA Championship of 2002 – which was, with a nagging symmetry, at Hazeltine.
Following on from his disasters on the greens during his 0-3 performance for Team Europe, there were a few short ones missed and the finish was excruciating, going double-birdie-double-triple to finish at thirteen-over after two rounds, dead last in the field.
