In the final tune-up before golf’s final major tournament of the 2022 season, former Kansas golfer Gary Woodland sits in second place entering the weekend at the Scottish Open.
After shooting a 6-under par 64 on Thursday in North Berwick, Scotland, Woodland fired a 2-over 72 on Friday.
No one else in the field fared much better, though, including leader Cameron Tringale, who also shot 72 on Friday. He leads Woodland and Doug Ghim by three strokes entering the final two rounds.
Most of Friday’s afternoon round was played with winds gusting up to 30 miles per hour. Woodland told the Associated Press that it was a mental grind on Friday, and he credited his recent work with longtime swing coach Butch Harmon for his hot start in Scotland.
The 2019 U.S. Open champ opened Friday with a birdie on his first hole, but he finished his first nine holes with four bogeys in a five-hole stretch. That slide continued on his 10th hole of the day, when he bogeyed the first hole to fall to 4-over for the day, but he followed that up with three consecutive birdies on holes No. 3, 4 and 5 to smooth out his card.
Woodland played a bogey-free round on Thursday, recording four birdies and an eagle to go along with 13 pars.
Tringale also recorded six bogeys on Friday after shooting a 9-under 61 on Thursday, with nine birdies and nine pars.
Those two will be paired in Round 3 on Saturday, when they will tee off at 3:40 p.m. local time, 9:40 a.m. central time.
Woodland is vying for his best finish of the current season and hoping to prepare himself for a run at the British Open, which is slated to run July 14-17 just down the road at the Old Course in St. Andrews, Scotland.
Woodland’s best finish at the British Open came in 2016, when he finished tied for 12th.
Woodland has made the cut in nine of the 19 tournaments he has played in during the 2022 season. That includes five top-10 finishes and seven times placing in the top 25. He has earned just under $1.9 million this season and is currently ranked 67th in the FedEx Cup Standings.
