Matthew Fitzpatrick is the halfway leader at the Scandanavian Invitation after adding a 65 to his opening 64. The Yorkshireman led overnight and continued to shine, bouncing back from an opening bogey to card six birdies, with his back nine of 29 especially impressive.
Sitting on 11-under overnight, Fitzpatrick is eyeing his first win of 2019 but looks set to come under pressure from home favourite Henrik Stenson at Hills Golf and Sports Club. The 2016 Open champion, who is playing in his home city of Gothenburg, cruised round in 62 on Friday. Stenson was another to drop an early shot but didn’t look back, recording nine birdies on Friday, including a run of six straight from the eighth to the 13th.
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He is joined on nine-under by Ashun Wu, while another Swede in Joakim Lagergren and Australia’s Jason Scrivener sit three off the pace. Speaking after his round, Lagergren admitted his goal heading into Saturday was to keep himself in the tournament as he targets his second European Tour victory.
Lagergren said: “It felt like it was playing a bit tougher today, definitely a bit longer with the early showers this morning so I’m pleased with one under today.
“With the conditions we had – the wind swirling around and the showers – I probably (would have taken that before the round) but you always want to perform better no matter what score you shoot. “We’re halfway through so just keep it together and hopefully I’m up there on Sunday.”
