Gaughan surges into reckoning at Northern Open

Louis Gaughan, one of the Tartan Tour's rising stars, carded a flawless 64 at Royal Dornoch to storm into contention at the halfway stage of the Northern Open.

Leading by a shot after the opening two rounds at the Sutherland venue with a four-under-par 136 aggregate is 2010 winner Greig Hutcheon.

Following scores of 67 and 69, the Paul Lawrie Golf Centre Inchmarlo player sits a shot ahead of defending champion Chris Kelly (69-68).

But two of the big guns on the Scottish circuit have both Gaughan and Scott Henderson, another former winner, breathing down their necks with two rounds to go.

Bathgate man Gaughan made his move with a six-birdie second-day effort, using a 3-2 start to kick start a round that represented a 10-shot improvement on his opening score.

"This is the best round of my life," admitted the 22-year-old afterwards. "It is such a good golf course and I’ve got to be happy with a 64."

Gaughan led after carding a first-round 66 in the P&H Championship at The Renaissance Club before finishing 12th behind another of the circuit's emerging talents, Paul O'Hara.

"I have been playing well," he added. “I didn’t do too much wrong yesterday. In fact, just like today, I birdied the first two holes. But, at the third, I picked up a two-shot penalty when I played the wrong ball."

Hutcheon described his day as a "bit of a struggle" after feeling he needlessly run up bogeys at the third and 16th due to poor course management.

But the 43-year-old insisted: “I’m happy with today’s score and I know what I need to work on for tomorrow.”

After signing for three birdies, Fife-based Kelly said: “I would have taken three-under at the start, I am just playing away and we’ll see what happens.

“The golf course is so tough going out you can’t really afford to miss a fairway, but I am quite pleased that I have played nice for two days."

Henderson, the overnight leader after his opening 65, had the wind taken out of his sails by dropped shots at the second and third while a subsequent 73 also included a double-bogey 6 at the 14th.

“Funnily enough, the conditions were a bit easier today," admitted the 1996 champion afterwards. “I just put a couple of shots a bit too far away from the pin."

Six amateurs were among 54 players to survive the cut on eight-over or better, with the host club's Chris Mailley the new leader in the Bookless Cup battle on three-over (72-71).