Rhys Davies was disappointed but not downbeat after his second-round two-over 67 at the Celtic Manor.
After 36 bogeyless holes, Davies began round two by dropping three shots. He put his poor start down to not feeling as good as yesterday. “I felt a bit tired this morning. There’s been quite a lot of golf of late,” he said after slipping down the leaderboard.
“I laughed last night. I hadn’t made a bogey in 36 holes before today, unfortunately something was going to give,” said a philosophical Davies.
“I wasn’t at my best today,” said Davies who again enjoyed a good following from the locals despite the early tee-off time, “I had a lot of good putts that didn’t go in and really, it wasn’t my day.”
The scoring throughout the field in the morning session was lower than the morning’s golf on day one, Davies
thought the course was playing harder. “There are some tough pins. There’s a few close to the water’s edge
certainly on the front nine.
“The greens are also getting a little bit firmer, although they are holding a shot nicely,” said Davies who will
need to reproduce his form of recent weeks at the weekend if he is to become the first Welsh winner of the Wales Open.
Bradley carded a second-round 73 to slip down the leaderboard in the Wales Open.
Like Rhys Davies in the morning, Dredge couldn’t maintain the momentum of the first-round and went round two over-par to end the day tied for eighth place.
Dredge didn’t play at all badly, but only made one birdie – on the 562-yard par-five 11th.
He was punished for a lack of birdies when he made mistakes and three bogeys gave the card a somewhat disappointing feel.
His first dropped shot came at the par-four 6th – his only blemish in a solid opening nine.
The back nine was a mixed bag. The birdie on the 11th brought Dredge back to four-under but he didn’t play the dog-leg at the par-four 15th with much confidence and made a bogey.
A poor tee-shot at the par-three 17th left Dredge needing to get up-and-down to save par but he missed his putt.
By Alex Winter, at the Celtic Manor Resort
