Course record 62 brings Lumsden on top
With a record second round in 62, 10 under par, Scotland’s Ryan Lumsden has climbed from yesterday’s T32 up to the top of the leaderboard and with a total of 133 (-11), has a one-stroke margin over France’s Romain Guillon (134, -10) and two strokes over Spaniard Manuel Elvira, third at 135 (-9) one round before the end of the Alps de Las Castillas, taking place at Club de Golf Las Pinaillas in Albacete (Spain).
“The game has been getting better lately”, said Lumsden, 24, winner in March of the opening tournament of the season in Italy, the Mira Golf Experience Acaya Open, and currently 9th in the Order of Merit having played just five out of the eight past tournaments in the calendar. “I have been struggling lately but now my game is feeling good. Everyone has been telling me that if I can keep believing, then good scores would come along, and I thought yes, it feels like one day I could find the switch, and it happened to be today, so it feels great! Not totally sure what was the key today, I got off to a good start obviously, I was really in control of my wedges – and I had really been struggling with them yesterday – so that really helped, I was also good from the tee, so overall I think my whole game was pretty solid. When you give yourself a lot of wedges from the fairways you can go quite low up here. The greens were also definitely a bit softer, and that actually made a big difference, because you can be a little more aggressive to the pin and go a couple of yards short instead of maybe 10 yards like we were doing yesterday”.
Today Lumsden carded a total of 12 birdies and two bogeys, perfectly shared on front and back nines. “I am absolutely looking for a second win this season, it’s been a bit of a struggle so far really, not so much with my game but with getting scores in. I’ve also played some tournaments on the Challenge Tour and again, my game was pretty solid, but I shoot bad scores, and here it is kind of a turnaround, I feel it is going to be the turning point for the season and I’m going to be able to kick on and play good scores from here on”.
The chase for a second success on the Alps Tour doesn’t look so smooth though, as many players are on the hunt and within just a couple of strokes. Frenchman Romain Guillon, 27, is keeping on his good form with two solid rounds (69-65, -10) and eyes a climbing from the 47th position on the Order of Merit; while Spain’s Manuel Elvira, 24, with two consistent rounds (68-67, -9) can also count on his recent experience on the Challenge Tour.
53 players made the cut on level par (144), and among them are the leader of the OoM Angel Hidalgo Portillo, T26 at -3, n. 2 Jacopo Vecchi Fossa, T17 at -5, and n.3 Pierre Pineau, 44th on level par.
The Alps de Las Castillas has a field of 130 players from 15 countries, gathered from July 7th-9th, thanks to the sponsorship of the Royal Spanish Golf Federation, the Federation of Castilla La Mancha and the Federation of Castilla León, and the support of the Golf Club Las Pinaíllas, the City of Albacete, the Provincial Council of Albacete, the Junta de Castilla La Mancha, the Consejo Superior de Deportes, Extrual, Allianz, AON, EDP Solar, Kyocera, Tag Heuer, as well as with the collaboration of El Corte Inglés Albacete, Bodegas Ayuso, Panadería Alejo, Miguelitos Ruiz, NextCaddy. JGolf is the organizing company of the Alps de las Castillas, a tournament that supports the celebration of the Solheim Cup 2023.
Second round scores: click here or check on the Alps Tour Golf app.
