0136홀 선두 오른 자비스, 시즌 3승 향해 순항
케이시 자비스가 알프레드 던힐 링크스 챔피언십 36홀을 마친 가운데 단독 선두 자리를 꿰차며 이번 시즌 세 번째 트로피를 향한 유리한 고지를 선점했다.
이번 대회에서 날카로운 샷 감각을 유지하고 있는 자비스는 대회 2라운드까지 안정적인 플레이를 펼치며 리더보드 최상단에 자신의 이름을 올렸다.
자비스는 이번 대회에서 우승을 차지할 경우 시즌 3승 고지에 오르게 되며, 남은 라운드에서도 선두 자리를 굳히기 위한 치열한 레이스를 이어갈 전망이다.
02Original (English) — DP World Tour
Casey Jarvis birdied the final hole of his round to earn a one-shot lead after the second round of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship as he seeks his third victory of the season on the DP World Tour.
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The South African, who claimed the Magical Kenya Open presented by Asba and the Investec South African Open Championship earlier this year, found the par-five ninth green (his 18th) at Kingsbarns with his second shot and two-putted from long range.
Jarvis made seven birdies and two bogeys for a second-round 67, adding to the opening round 66 he carded at Carnoustie on Thursday.
"I played really nicely," he said afterwards. "I felt the whole day, hit the ball really solid. My approach play was really good. Luckily rolled in a few putts in my front nine, which is the back nine, and I just felt really in control of my game out there.
" the wind was not what I expected it to be today. I thought it would be a bit more windier, so the front end played pretty gettable. Yeah, I made a few good birdies out there, especially a good birdie on 18. It hit two nice approach shots, and yeah, I mean, capitalised with holding a few putts.
"Kind of let a few slip on the front nine. Didn't make as many putts as I would have liked to, so to finish off with a birdie is always nice going into tomorrow.
"It's nice to have the old course for two rounds in a row now. You watch the Open growing up as a kid and now to be in contention in a tournament like this. Yeah, I'm just looking forward to it and I can't wait to get out there over the weekend."
Starting at the tenth, Jarvis - who has missed the cut in three of his previous four starts in this tournament - made a bogey at the second but recovered quickly with three straight birdies at the 12th, 13th and 14th holes.
Another birdie at 16 moved him into a four-way tie, before he and Matthew Jordan quickly became locked at the top, making it to ten and then 11-under par.
Jordan dropped back to ten-under first with a final-hole bogey alongside Rocco Repetto Taylor and MJ Daffue, before Jarvis gave back a shot of his own with a bogey at the third.
Parring the next five in a row, the 23-year-old then made a final-hole birdie to regain the outright lead, and he will now head to St Andrews on Saturday.
One shot behind him is a trio of players - Repetto Taylor, Daffue and Jordan - who are all seeking their maiden titles on the DP World Tour.
Starting at the tenth, Repetto Taylor had the lowest round of the day, an eight-under 64 around Kingsbarns, charging to the top of the leaderboard with four birdies and eagle on his back nine.
It’s a brilliant momentum builder for Taylor, who is currently 159th on the Race to Dubai Rankings Delivered by DP World and has missed nine of his last 11 cuts, but the Spaniard is positive about where his game is.
“I started playing links golf about two years ago, and once I started playing, I love it, to be honest, just how creative you have to be and all different type of shots,” he said.
“It's pretty cool. I've been playing some great golf for the last couple two months. It just hadn't clicked. Coming into this week making the most of the starts I have left and trying to enjoy myself.”
Daffue, who finished tied fourth on his last start at the Open de Portugal on the HotelPlanner Tour two weeks ago, built on an opening 66 with a four-under 64 at St Andrews. Recovering from a bogey after finding the water on the first, Daffue made birdies at five, seven, 14, 15 and finally 18 to get to ten under.
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The 37-year-old has mixed his season across both the HotelPlanner Tour and Golf’s Global Tour, already winning twice on the HotelPlanner Tour this season.
“I hit a pretty good approach shot to one,” said Daffue, who is also leading the team competition alongside Paul Harris.
“Disappointing starting the round like that, but I'm pretty proud of how patient I was because I only missed one green since then for the whole round, and so I had a lot of looks.
"And I hit a lot of good putts. Just didn't make any. Made one or two coming in, and then obviously the last hole had a perfect read but I hit that putt in the practice round and I guess that's why we do practice rounds, right.”
Similarly seeking a first victory is Jordan, who had back-to-back runner-up finishes earlier this year at the Danish Golf Championship and Nexo Championship.
The Englishman, who is currently 44th on the Race to Dubai Rankings, began his round in impressive fashion with back-to-back birdies, before an eagle at the par five 14th and another birdie at the 15th to move into contention.
The first man to get to ten under after birdies at the fourth and fifth, Jordan joined Jarvis at the top on 11 under before a dropped shot at his final hole.
It was a welcome round of golf for Jordan, who admits he has struggled in the past at Carnoustie, his seven-under-par 65 being five shots better than his previous best in this event around the Angus Links, which came in 2024.
“Yeah, brilliant,” assessed Jordan, who finished in a tie for fifth in this event in 2019 and tied tenth in 2024.
“Really good. Even the bogey on last, the six-footer, kind of felt good in the end, as well. Really, really pleasing as you'd expect.
“It's just been, in this event, my Achilles' heel. I remember shooting 9-under at St Andrews and came here and the weather was absolutely horrendous.
“Yeah, I can't kick myself too much but I think I shot 5-under there, and I think the year before, I shot 8-under and 6-under, and then I think came here and shot kind of level or 1-under. So it's always really kind of held me back a bit.
It's just hard golf holes. Where the wind is normally, you have a couple of nice ones, but there's a handful in there that keep you honest. Really pleasing to come away from this and finally shooting a good score around here.”
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A shot behind them are the quartet of Ivan Cantero, Sam Bairstow, Niklas Norgaard and Ollie Schniederjans, while a large chasing pack on eight-under includes defending champion Robert MacIntyre and Brooks Koepka.
In the Team competition, its Daffue and his partner Paul Harris who retain their lead at 21-under, alongside Daniel Hillier and his partner Craig Heatley - winner of the competition in 2004 with Fred Couples - who shot a collective 59 at Kingsbarns on Friday.
Jarvis and his amateur Hickman Bacon are a shot behind with four others.