Jonathan Caldwell was pleasantly surprised to find reasonably calm conditions in the early stages of day two at the Farmfoods Scottish Challenge at Newmacher Golf Club, and the Clandeboye man made hay while the sun shone and vaulted himself into contention with a bogey-free 66.
“Yeah, very pleased,” was his summation after the round. “I played excellent, and 66 was probably the worst I could have shot out there. I got off to a really good start, a few early birdies and a lot of good chances. If I got the putter going at all today it could have been a really low score, so I I’m very pleased with tee-to-green.
“We weren’t expecting it to be that calm. The forecast was giving heavy winds right from the get go, but we probably got sort of first seven holes very, very calm.
“And yeah, like you say, it’s important to take advantage. I just wish I’d have gotten a couple more of those chances taken, but, yeah, it was nice to get off to a good start and then have something to sort of build on.”
It’s been a strange year for Caldwell, who almost signed off on 2023 by earning back his DP World Tour card at Q-School, and has a Challenge Tour top-five finish in 2024 but that is the only time he’s placed in the top 30, but there’s clearly something about Newmacher Golf Club that’s to his liking as he finished tied for third here last year.
“It’s all about hitting it straight, keeping it on the fairway and knowing when to go at some flags,” he explained. “The course is a bit firmer – certainly yesterday it was a lot firmer than I’ve ever played it. The rain overnight softened it a bit which is which is why the scores are a bit better today. But yeah, I’ve always played well here. It suits my eye. You don’t have to smash it and find it.”
Caldwell’s 66 moved him to -6 for the tournament after 36 holes, and with the late starters in the early stages of their rounds, he lies tied for seventh, three off the lead. And he’s hoping the wind, which picked up throughout the day, continues to whip over the weekend.
“Yeah, absolutely,” he replied when asked if he relished a blustery final two rounds,” a bit of wind will make it a good test. Like I said, it was firm yesterday, and if the wind stays up, it’s going to dry out again which makes it even more challenging.
“So yeah, hopefully we get a bit of wind over the weekend.”
One player hoping the wind reaches gale force levels this afternoon is Conor Purcell who went six lower than his opening round with a three-under 68 that leaves him on level-par for the tournament but the provisional cutline currently would see him and Cormac Sharvin who shot back-to-back rounds of level-par, miss out by the minimum.
Dermot McElroy should have no such worries after backing up his opening 69 with a level-par 71, while Ronan Mullarney, the only other early Irish starter, is set to miss out as he lies on +4.