Miles Tunnicliff shrugged off injury to shoot a course record equalling seven under par 65 and join Robert Karlsson on nine under par at the top of the clubhouse leaderboard on the second day of the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth Club.
Tunnicliff could not even pick up a club in practice on Wednesday after injuring his right arm at the weekend but after some intensive treatment in The European Tour’s Physio Unit, including some acupuncture, he produced a masterful display to conquer the West Course, including an eagle two on the seventh hole.
The Englishman’s round also contained seven birdies and two bogeys as he matched the course record set yesterday by Ireland’s Paul McGinley.
He said: “On Wednesday I couldn't hit any shots at all. It’s beware the injured golfer again. I pulled a muscle in my forearm and the physios worked very hard all day Wednesday, and managed to sort me out with some acupuncture and it's feeling fine now.
“To get 65 around here any time is a great score. It's taken me a while to get used to this course but today I managed to work it out and holed a few putts.”
In contrasting conditions to yesterday’s glorious sunshine, Karlsson continued his fine recent form to card a three under par 69.
The Swede, who had birdied the fourth and eight holes, recovered immediately from a dropped shot on the 15th, where he found a divot on the fairway, to go on a fine run of birdies.
A superb nine iron shot to within a foot of the hole sparked the flurry as The Ryder Cup player set the marker for the rest of the field, after the greens took an overnight soaking.
Karlsson said: “I got in a divot on the fairway on the 15th and hit a sort of poor second shot and missed a six footer at the end. Then I hit three good approach shots on the last three so I had three tap in birdies which was a nice finish.”
Karlsson admitted that the change in conditions had made a difference to the West Course, making it more favourable for the players but admitted he missed some chances to extend his lead.
“Yesterday afternoon it was really, really bouncy and there was a little bit of wind yesterday, so it was quite different from today where there was a lot more moisture on the greens, and a bit easier I would say condition wise.
“I hit a lot of good putts between ten and 20 feet that didn't go in today,” he added. “There was a good goalkeeper today. I wasn't as happy with the putting today as I was yesterday. I don't know how they didn't go in.”
Oliver Wilson shot a four birdies and an eagle without dropping a shot in a fine six under par round of 66 to surge into second place.
The Englishman, who has just moved near to Wentworth in Weybridge, said he was delighted to put himself in contention on eight under par for the Championship.
He said: “I was pleased with how I played. Obviously I had no bogeys which was the big thing really. If you can try and eliminate mistakes out there, you can do pretty well and that's what I did. I putted nicely and just played pretty solid, really.”
“I’m in a great position. I just wanted to try and get into contention as soon as possible really out here. I need to start contending in these bigger tournaments. I feel like I'm good enough to now so it's nice to actually produce that today and get right in there.”
