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

Justin Thomas had all the things 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 two-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 aspects 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 large number of issues, lacking the green left and in the end carded a 5.

Photo by Andrew Redington/Getty Images

Many different contenders handed Thomas by, hovering up the leaderboard whereas the 3-time Ryder Cup star went the wrong way. But 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. But 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 needs to get again into rivalry, he faces an uphill climb going into the weekend. But with the benign climate wanting like it can deteriorate because the weekend wears on, something can occur. Yet, Thomas will doubtless want others to stumble—as he did on Friday—to get again within the combine.

Jack Milko is a golf employees author for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be certain to take a look at @_PlayingThrough for extra golf protection. You can observe him on Twitter @jack_milko as properly.