Mark Pilkington’s second round of four under par 66 at the Morson International Pro-Am Challenge helped the Welshman take control of the European Challenge Tour event at the Marriott Worsley Park Hotel and Country Club. Pilkington, who opened the week with a sparkling 62, is 12 under at the halfway stage - three shots clear of his closest challenger, Gustavo Rojas of Argentina.
Pilkington is a player who is rediscovering the form that saw him compete at Europe’s highest level on The European Tour for three years between 2001 and 2003. The 28 year old is growing visibly in confidence with every good shot, and his second round 66 contained plenty of fine strikes.
Pilkington has made just one bogey in his opening 36 holes – coming at the par five fifth during his second round – but the rest of his play has been outstanding.
His six iron to just three feet on the third saw him pick up his first birdie of the day, and he cancelled out his bogey with a solid seven iron to 12 feet on the par three ninth. Further birdies on the 12th, 13th and 18th put the seal on another excellent display of both ball striking and putting from Pilkington.
He said: “I played steady again made a lot of birdie chances and managed to hole a few of them. The only one that really got way was on 17 where I missed form about five feet, but, apart from that, I was pretty happy with how I played.
“I could have a big lead at the end of the day but you can’t think about that after two rounds. The only thing you are really conscious of is trying to keep going and keep making birdies. You see a lot of people struggling to keep it going the day after they have a shot a low one, and I was aware of that today, so it was nice to keep going.”
Pilkington has been delighted by his recent return to form, and is still very much in love with golf, despite its mystifying nature.
“I feel very relaxed with my game at the moment, I’m in a position where I am not hoping to play well, but expecting to play well,” said Pilkington. “ It’s the same with the putting, I am now not thinking about them too much, just trying to roll the ball on the way to the hole, and typically of this game, that’s when they start to drop for you.
“Golf defies logic sometimes. In any other sport, or any walk of life, when things aren’t going well you work harder to put them right but golf can work the other way round. Everyone works hard at their games to get to where they are, but a lot of the time you have to take a step back and not think about it too much when you are out there. There’s no common sense to this game, but I still love it.”
Pilkington leads Rojas, who posted a second round 66, by three strokes going in the weekend, with England’s Simon Lilly a further two strokes back on seven under 133.
The Morson International Pro-Am Challenge now switches to a Pro-Am format for the final two rounds. Each professional to make the halfway cut is paired with an Amateur partner for the final 36 holes, with individual amateur prizes on each of the final two rounds with the professionals playing for a prize fund of £100,000.
