Scottish Open: Justin Thomas stumbles, now trails Ludvig Åberg large

Justin Thomas had every part going for him on Thursday. He drained loads of putts, hit quite a few method photographs inside six toes, and held the lead on the PGA Tour for the primary time in over two years.

Then he got here crashing again right down to Earth on Friday.

The 2-time PGA Championship winner posted a 2-over 72—10 strokes worse than his first-round rating. He now trails chief Ludvig Åberg by six.

Thomas struggled in just about all sides of his sport on Friday. He couldn’t get right into a groove, as evidenced by two early bogies throughout his first six holes. His first bogey got here as a result of he misjudged his second shot on the par-3 twelfth—in what ought to have been a routine up-and-down. Three holes later, on the difficult par-4 fifteenth, Thomas made a multitude of issues, lacking the golf green left and in the end carded a 5.

Photograph by Andrew Redington/Getty Photos

Many different contenders handed Thomas by, hovering up the leaderboard whereas the 3-time Ryder Cup star went the other way. However he did handle to bounce again to 8-under for the championship thanks to 2 birdies on the par-4 18th and par-5 third holes.

He appeared to have steadied his spherical on his second 9, plotting together with an even-par rating for the day by the point he reached the eighth tee—his seventeenth gap of the day. However then he rifled his drive proper, forcing him to re-load together with his third shot off the tee. He consequently made a double-bogey six, dropping again to 6-under-par for the championship and properly again of Åberg.

If he desires to get again into competition, he faces an uphill climb going into the weekend. However with the benign climate trying like it is going to deteriorate because the weekend wears on, something can occur. But, Thomas will possible want others to stumble—as he did on Friday—to get again within the combine.

Jack Milko is a golf workers author for SB Nation’s Taking part in Via. Remember to try @_PlayingThrough for extra golf protection. You possibly can comply with him on Twitter @jack_milko as properly.