David Drysdale boosts bid to keep European Tour card

David Drysdale is joint third at the halfway stage in the KLM Open. Picture: Jan Kruger/Getty

A six-under-par 65 – his lowest score of the year – catapulted the 43-year-old Cockburnspath man up 36 spots into joint third at The Dutch.

On eight-under, Drysdale, pictured,sits four off the lead, held by China’s Ashun Wu, but is in a good position to jump from 118th spot into the all-important top 110 in the Race to Dubai. “I don’t really look at the rankings as I’ve been there a few times before. I know guys like to study it but I don’t really like to think about it,” said Drysdale after a bogey-free effort that contained four 2s. “I haven’t played fantastic this season, I know that, but you keep working hard and you always think that there is some good golf coming around the corner.

“I actually played lovely yesterday but I missed a lot of opportunities. I was a little bit frustrated to only be a couple under, so it was great today to see the putts drop.”

Elsewhere, Craig Ross, Peter Whiteford and Ryan Campbell took the first step towards securing European Tour membership next season by passing the opening stage in the Qualifying School.

In the last women’s major of the season, Scottish No 1 Catriona Matthew agonisingly missed the cut by a shot after taking a double-bogey 6 at the last in the second round of the Evian Championship in France. However, England’s Georgia Hall is still in the hunt as she bids to back up her win in the Women’s British Open, sitting two off the lead, which is shared by four players, on six-under.

In the amateur ranks, Scotland beat hosts Wales 8-7 at Conwy to avoid the wooden spoon in the Men’s Home Internationals, won by England after a dramatic 8½-6½ victory over Ireland, champions for the previous four years.