Dale Whitnell carded the lowest round of his DP World Tour career with a stunning 61 to take a commanding six-shot lead into the weekend at the Volvo Car Scandinavian Mixed.
The Englishman entered the day a shot behind overnight leaders Yannik Paul and Niklas Nørgaard and spent the first half of his round in a nip-and-tuck battle with the German Ryder Cup hopeful as he turned in 30 at Ullna Golf and Country Club.
A hat-trick of birdies from the 10th then catapulted him clear of his rival and talk of a 59 began to ripple around the fairways, before the 34-year-old added further gains at the 15th and last to get to 17 under.
Paul carded a 68 to be the nearest challenger, one shot ahead of Scotland’s Richie Ramsay, who picked up four shots in his final four holes in a 66.
South Africa’s Justin Walters followed his first-round 67 with 70 on Friday to share fifth on seven under. Countryman Louis de Jager, who fired 66 on Thursday, carded a disappointing 76 to slip to two under.
A stunning display of iron play which saw just two of Whitnell’s 11 successful birdie putts come from outside 10 feet helped him record the lowest round of the season and take just one shot more than Ernie Els’ record for an opening 36 at the 2004 Heineken Classic.
A hole-out eagle from 96 yards on his final hole of day one provided the springboard for Whitnell’s fantastic Friday, and he is now aiming for a maiden DP World Tour win having secured three top 10s so far in 2023.
“It was pretty good today,” he said. “Obviously yesterday was nice, I had a bit of momentum after holing my last shot and I took it into today.
“I played nicely, hit the right shots at the right time, took my medicine if I needed to if I wasn’t in the right positions and holed a few putts which helped.
“I just want to emulate what I’ve done the first two days. Obviously it would be pretty impressive to do that but I’ll just keep the same mindset.
“The golf course is gettable if you give it a bit of discipline, if you try and bite off a bit more then you can chew you will get punished so I’ve just got to keep that in mind going into the weekend.”
– Edited report from DP World Tour website
