LIV Golf star remains in the lead at International Series England event
Belgium's Thomas Pieters remains out in front at Foxhills after the second day of the International Series event on the Asian Tour in Surrey.
T. Pieters | -9 |
R. Dinwiddie | -9 |
C. Surratt | -8 |
R. Bland | -7 |
A. Flanagan | -7* |
B. Grace | -6 |
S. Lee | -6 |
R. Lee | -6* |
S. Vincent | -5 |
R. Velzen | -5 |
Belgium's Thomas Pieters says he's content to keep chipping his driver around Foxhills after he remained out in front at the International Series event on the Asian Tour.
Pieters raced out of the blocks on day one, carding a bogey-free 7-under 64 on the Longcross Course.
On day two, the 32-year-old wasn't flawless, making bogeys at 4 and 11 alongside birdies on 1, 2, 14 and 18 to return a card of 2-under 69.
Pieters is tied at the summit alongside veteran English professional Robert Dinwiddie (66).
Jon Rahm's LIV Golf teammate Caleb Surratt is third on 8-under after he fired a 66 on Friday morning.
England's Richard Bland is in a tie for fourth on 7-under.
Branden Grace is also inside the top-10.
"Played similar to yesterday," Pieters said.
"[I] just didn’t make enough putts. I struggled on the greens. I am still pretty happy. I thought it was pretty tough this morning. I am in a good position."
Asked to describe his second round, Pieters said: "I am playing aggressively, hitting a lot to drivers.
"I am kind of like chipping them down the fairway with my driver.
"Hopefully I can keep doing the same. I didn't play golf last week; I took the week off.
"Sometimes it is good to refresh the mind; swing thoughts are gone. Just kind of get up there and hit it.
"I am working on a few swing things and as always working on my putting, which has been the main problem."
The prize purse for this event is $2,00,000 with the winner receiving $360,000.
Pieters is chasing his first win since the 2022 Abu Dhabi Championship.
The aforementioned Dinwiddie is a 41-year-old English pro was one of three players who made it through an eight-man qualifier to compete here.
He told the Asian Tour's official website: "I'm really happy to be 9-under and tied for the lead, that's for sure.
"Putted amazingly well yesterday, didn't hit the ball great. I hit the ball a bit better today and continued to putt pretty well from 10-15 feet.
"But you know, still, I haven't really hit the ball that well, amazingly, the last couple of days.
"But maybe I haven't got myself in crazy trouble, and then I have putted reasonably well which has kind of made up for it.
"So, I'm really happy. I'm hopeful that I can maybe hit the ball a little bit better over the next couple of days and see what happens."
