English rookie Ross McGowan assumed the role of the smiling assassin with consummate ease to lead the Estoril Open de Portugal after a second consecutive 68 gave him a two shot lead over his countryman Nick Dougherty at the Quinta da Marinha Oitavos Golfe.
McGowan, who turned professional in November last year, is playing only his second European Tour event, and doing so with a refreshing smile on his face, be he making birdies, bogeys or pars.
He grinned his way to a second 68 to move to six under par 136 after 36 holes, two clear of Dougherty and three ahead of England’s Benn Barham and Graeme Storm, Scotland’s Stephen Gallacher and the Frenchman Raphaël Jacquelin.
McGowan, the current English Amateur champion, missed out on winning a European Tour card through the Qualifying School – Final Stage last November, but the 24 year old has played himself into a wonderful opportunity to put that right at Oitavos over the weekend.
“I know that it’s a great chance to do that but it’s just one shot at a time and I don’t want to get to far ahead of myself,” he, somewhat unsurprisingly, smiled after his second round.
“This is new territory for me, so we’ll see how it goes. I led a few times after 36 holes in the amateur ranks but it’s different in the pros. I was joint leader at a couple of professional events over the winter in South Africa but didn’t finish all that strongly.”
McGowan and Dougherty, who will play together in Saturday’s final group of the day have much in common. Both 24 and with stunning amateur records, not to mention the fact that they both prefer to smile their way round a golf course than grimace, the only stark contrast between the pair is their experience of the professional game.
Dougherty turned professional as an 18 year old and has since racked up a wealth of experience of golf at the very highest level, winning the 2005 Caltex Masters, presented by Carlsberg Singapore 2005 as well as playing in five Majors.
After a rather dramatic loss of form last summer, Dougherty is once again looking like the player who at one stage last season was being seriously talked of as a potential Ryder Cup player.
He said: “It was a difficult day, so all in all I am very pleased with that, it was good performance overall even though I had a couple of bad shots near the end.
“The form is definitely coming back. I should have won in Singapore four weeks ago but it still gave me the confidence and reassurance that I needed and since then it has been good. I feel good this year and have planned well.
“I’m disappointed not be playing the Masters next week but I don’t deserve to be. Less than a year ago I was looking like I was going to be a Ryder Cup player and all was well and then looked what happened. But that’s golf. I’ll be there next year - that’s the plan anyway.”
