It's all about the present for Greenwood

A present for his wife’s birthday was top of Dan Greenwood’s agenda after taking charge at the halfway stage of the Glenmuir PGA Professional Championship.

The Forest Pines professional (above), one of four first round joint leaders at the Peugeot supported event at De Vere Slaley Hall, was poised for an afternoon in Gateshead’s famous Metrocentre to make amends for missing his spouse’s celebration – due to competing in the £78,000 championship.

And Mrs Greenwood could be looking at a better than expected gift after the Lincolnshire-based pro carded a three-under-par 69 to move to four-under-par and a three shot lead over defending champion Gareth Wright (West Linton), who also shot a 69.

The pair are the only players under par at the midway point, with another six players on level par after the Hunting Course again put the field to the test.

Greenwood, notched five birdies – four on the front nine, and dropped just two shots on the sixth and 13^th.

 “I played better than yesterday and was just consistent, dropping just a couple,” he said. “I had some good par save putts and couple of close ones, which always help.

“Seven was a good birdie and then we stood on eight for quite a while for the group in front, who lost a ball and had to come back. It was also quite a hard hole as you can normally nudge it down but I took a three wood and then got the birdie. Then I had up and down from 110 yards on nine for par, which was three good ones together.”

Greenwood finished sixth at last year’s championship, and two more consistent rounds could reap the added bonus of a place on the Great Britain & Ireland PGA Cup to take on the Americans at Slaley Hall in September.

Six places will be determined at the conclusion of the championship, with three already taken via the PGA Play-Offs last December. Captain Russell Weir also has one pick.

However, the jocular Greenwood, is playing everything down.

“I’m just happy I made the cut,” he said. “That’s all I think about when I’m at a tournament. I’ll just see what happens from here but I have no grandeurs of winning it. It would be nice but there’s no pressure. I’m doing OK, it’s just another two rounds.

“The last two days have just been down to a good rhythm. I’ve done no practising, just hitting 10 balls in the range each time and I won’t don’t anything until tomorrow. If I go to the range now, I’ll just have swing thoughts. Instead I’m going shopping now for my wife’s birthday.

“It was on Monday and I missed it as I was here playing in the pro-am. I sent her some flowers and paid for her to go out and have a meal.

“Now though, I’m off to the Metrocentre to buy her something nice. It’s got a pound shop hasn’t it?”

Wright, like the leader, had five birdies and two dropped shots. He was level for his round at the turn, but had a flawless back nine including gains at 11, 12 and 15.

“It was easier today as I had more focus but still a few silly three putts,” he said.

“I played a lot better but still left a couple of shots out there. I was more comfortable so all in all quite happy.

“I’m happy with where I am on the leaderboard as anything can happen on this golf course. One hole can transform your whole round. There’s plenty of birdies out there but there’s disasters as well so strategy is key.

“To come back to such a great golf course and defend the trophy is an honour as it’s a great championship.”

Of the joint first round leaders, Renishaw Park’s Michael Ramsden carded a 73 to be one of the six players on level par.

A shot further back at one-over is Newquay’s Chris Gill, while Craig Sutherland carded a five-over-par 77 to ease to four over for the tournament.

A total of 55 players made the cut with scores of eight-over-par or better.

*Thursday will also see the start of the 36-hole Glenmuir WPGA Professional Championship. Eight women will compete for the title and a £1,000 top prize. Huddersfield’s Alexander Keighley is the defending champion.