With a walk-off birdie, Chris Paisley completed a 6-under-par 35-30=65 in round two of the Belgian Knockout and posted 12-under 130, good enough to earn the rank of top seed for the weekend action.
That was the lowest 36-hole total overall, beating Anton Karlsson by one, and three shots better than anyone on his side of the draw (early/late). We go into a nine-hole head-to-head knockout format on the weekend, with No. 1 seed Paisley taking on the No. 64. While seeding isn’t overly important, there is a slight advantage for the top 16 as they would qualify for the next round if their opening nine-hole match on Saturday ends in a tie. The Englishman secured his second 65 of the week thanks to a hot back nine. After two birdies against a bogey on the front, he ticked 10, 11, 14, 16 and 18 to be home in 30. “It really suits my strengths,” he said. “The strengths of my game are my putting and wedging and you have a lot of wedges into these greens if you’re hitting it straight and I seem to be hitting it straight at the moment so it sets up perfectly for me.” He added with a smile: “Slightly annoying those two rounds are basically going to be wiped clean!”