Oman Open: Gallacher & Højgaard Lead At Halfway Stage

Scotland’s Stephen Gallacher and Denmark’s Rasmus Højgaard are tied for the lead of the Oman Open after two rounds of the tournament.

The pair both sat inside the top five going into the second round at Al Mouj Golf on Friday at the Oman Open, after rounds of 68 and 67, respectively. Their scores were reversed in Oman on day two, with the Scotsman shooting 67 to join the Dane, who posted a 68, at -9.

After an up-and-down first round, which saw an eagle, six birdies, two bogeys and a double-bogey for Gallacher, he had a much more stable second day, shooting a bogey-free round of five-under-par.

Once again, roles were reversed, as it was Højgaard who followed his blip-free day with a more up-and-down round on Friday, including a run of three bogeys in six holes around the turn. The pair sit at -9, leading by a single shot from another two Europeans.

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Finland’s Kalle Samooja and Belgium’s Nicolas Colsaerts currently sit at -8, with the Finn posting the lowest round of the week so far. He carded a seven-under-par 65 on the second day, despite a triple-bogey 7 on the 15th.

Nine birdies and an eagle were also on the card, on a day where the World No.206 parred just a third of the 18 holes he played. Colsaerts was a bit more reserved on his card, with seven birdies and two bogeys, equating to a five-under-par 67. The pair are now just a shot off the lead going into the weekend’s action.

Two shots back from the top four is a group of five men, including the overnight leader after the first round, and the 2018 Oman Open champion.

Guido Migliozzi held the lead after Thursday, following an impressive 66, but he could only follow it up with a level-par 72 in the second round. Joost Luiten, the winner of the inaugural event two years ago, carded a second consecutive round of 69, to join the Italian at -6.

The English duo of Robert Rock and Richard McEvoy, along with South Africa’s Brandon Stone, are also in the group in a tie for 5th, with the former posting a 65 as well, tying Samooja’s best round of the week so far.

61 players are currently under par in Oman after two days, with a further 18 sitting at level-par, the cut mark for the tournament.

Of those under par, Taehee Lee dropped down from a tie for 2nd into a tie for 29th after a three-over-par round of 75, while Martin Kaymer and Haotong Li both had to recover from poor rounds on Thursday, with the German finding this little piece of magic at the par-3 13th.

Victor Dubuisson and Ross Fisher also posted 75s on day two of the Oman Open, dropping down into a tie for 42nd at -1, while Peter Hanson and Nicolai Højgaard, the brother of leader Rasmus, are in the group at level par for the week.

Unfortunately for the likes of Thomas Pieters, Sam Horsfield, Oliver Fisher, and Pedro Figueiredo, they all just missed out on making the cut, which saw 79 players advance to the weekend.

Friday was a dismal day for both China’s Ashun Wu and Frenchman Romain Langasque, with the pair carding rounds of 77 to drop down from -2 to +3, and outside the cut zone. However, it has been an even worse week for the European Tour’s newest winner.

Min Woo Lee lifted his maiden European Tour title at the ISPS Handa Vic Open in Geelong three weeks ago, but he could only manage to post rounds of 77 and 76 to finish the tournament at -9, missing cut by some nine strokes.

Back at the top though, and there will be two men starting the third-day level at the top, in Stephen Gallacher and Rasmus Højgaard. The pair will tee off in the final group, alongside Finland’s Kalle Samooja, at 11:35 (GMT+4) local time.

Third round action at the Oman Open begins at 06:47 local time on Saturday morning, but come the close of play, will it be the Scot or the Dane that is in pole position ahead of the final round? Or, will one of the chasing pack go low and make their move?

Leaderboard:

T1 (-9): Stephen Gallacher (SCO), Rasmus Højgaard (DEN)

T3 (-8): Nicolas Colsaerts (BEL), Kalle Samooja (FIN)

T5 (-6): Robert Rock (ENG), Richard McEvoy (ENG), Brandon Stone (RSA), Guido Migliozzi (ITA), Joost Luiten (NED)

Selected Others:

T10 (-5): Alejandro Canizares (ESP), Lorenzo Gagli (ITA)

T19 (-3): Gavin Green (MAS), Zander Lombard (RSA), Antoine Rozner (FRA)

T29 (-2): Martin Kaymer (GER), Haotong Li (CHN), Edoardo Molinari (ITA), Taehee Lee (KOR)

T42 (-1): Victor Dubuisson (FRA), Ross Fisher (ENG), Thomas Detry (BEL), Pablo Larrazabal (ESP)

T62 (E): Peter Hanson (SWE), Nicolai Højgaard (DEN), Andy Sullivan (ENG)

Missed Cut:

T80 (+1): Thomas Pieters (BEL), Sam Horsfield (ENG)

T86 (+2): Pedro Figueiredo (POR), Oliver Fisher (ENG)

T98 (+3): Ashun Wu (CHN), Romain Langasque (FRA)

T110 (+4): Wil Besseling (NED), Jorge Campillo (ESP), Shubhankar Sharma (IND)

T142 (+9): Min Woo Lee (AUS)