Matthew Baldwin consolidated his strong start with a brilliant 66 to sit two shots clear after the second day of the weather-affected BMW PGA Championship.
The Englishman was one of two players – the other was Frenchman Jeong weon Ko – to keep a clean card during Thursday’s opening round of 65 to top the leaderboard and he continued his fine form on Friday.
He rolled in six birdies and just one bogey – his only dropped shot of the tournament so far – through 16 holes before the threat of lightning suspended play after he had teed off at the penultimate hole.
But not even a delay of an hour and 17 minutes could distract the 38-year-old as he immediately added another gain at the 17th to set the clubhouse target of 13 under, which equalled the tournament record set by Paul McGinley in 2008.
Niklas Nørgaard, who won his maiden DP World Tour title at the Betfred British Masters earlier this month, carded an eagle, four birdies and a bogey to reach 11 under and become the closest challenger.
“Incredibly pleased. Incredibly proud of how I’ve played so far,” Baldwin said. “There’s a long way to go. Keep doing the same things, should be a good week.
“Just playing sensible golf, really, I guess. I’m trying not to hit it too close, which obviously then forces you, sometimes you can get short-sided and things like that.
“I think my putting has been very good. Mentally I’ve been very good. I have a tendency to get in my own way. So I allowed myself to hit good golf shots and good putts and things like that has been great.”
Baldwin reached the turn in 31 on Thursday, but went one better in his second round thanks to a hat-trick of birdies from the 3rd.
He stuck his approach into the 3rd to six feet before finding the bottom of the cup from nine and 15 feet at the 4th and 5th respectively.
A par at the next briefly halted his momentum, but he drained a 17-foot putt for a gain at the 7th and followed this up with another at the 8th to reach 12 under and open up a five-shot lead.
However, Andy Sullivan birdied the 2nd, 4th, 6th and 7th to charge up to nine under, which cut the deficit to two shots when Baldwin bogeyed the 11th in the middle of his rival’s run.
Baldwin restored a four-shot advantage when he picked up a shot at the 15th and Sullivan finished the front nine with a bogey, which dropped him back alongside Billy Horschel and Thriston Lawrence at eight under.
Baldwin produced a great par save from 26 feet at the 16th to remain at 12 under and teed off at the next before the hooters sounded to suspend play due to adverse weather.
The 77-minute delay did not affect him as he rolled in a superb 13-foot putt to improve to 13 under before finishing with a par to set a daunting benchmark.
“I had three or four months working at Amazon driving a van just to see me through the winter before the Challenge Tour started in 2022,” Baldwin added.
“I learned a lot from that. I learned that there are other things that I could do in life, but I also learned that I really wanted to play golf.”
Nørgaard was flawless on the front nine with birdies at the 1st, 5th and 6th before he produced a stunning approach at the par-five 12th to six feet for an eagle to become Baldwin’s closest rival.
A bogey followed at the 14th, but he got on the par-five last in two for a tap-in birdie to sit two shots adrift of the leading Englishman.
Frenchman Antoine Rozner birdied six of the last seven holes, including five in a row to finish his round, to catapult himself into third at 10 under following his 65.
Rory McIlroy was one shot back alongside Italian Matteo Manassero, Horschel was in sixth at eight under, while Canada’s Aaron Cockerill, Scot Robert MacIntyre, Germany’s Yannik Paul and English trio Tommy Fleetwood, Harry Hall and Oliver Wilson remained in contention at seven under.
South Africa’s Thriston Lawrence shared 13th position on six under after a round of 70 that included an eagle, three birdies and three bogeys.
Due to the delay, 15 players will finish their second rounds on Saturday morning with the third round not getting under way before 9am in a two tee, three-ball format.
– Edited report from DP World Tour
Photo: Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images
