Matthew Fieldsend extricated himself from the gridlocked leaderboard that existed after the first round of the English PGA Championship with an almost flawless negotiation of the course at Bowood in the second.
Fieldsend began the day level with Bruce McDonald and Kevin O’Connell on three-under par with another 17 players within just two shots of the trio of pacemakers.
Come its end he had established a four-stroke advantage over the rest of the field chasing the £5,000 first prize thanks to a five-under par round of 67 that leaves him eight-under for the tournament.
Teeing off at the par-four 10th, the 29-year-old from the West Midlands served notice of what was to come with the first of six birdies.
He recorded two more on the front nine and another three on the way home, one of which immediately made amends for the solitary blemish on his card, a bogey at the 15th hole on his round, the par-three sixth on Dave Thomas-designed course.
All of which has put Fieldsend on course to record a rare but not unique double: adding the English PGA Championship crown to the PGA Assistants’ Championship he won at Coxmoor in 2017.
It’s a feat achieved by one other, namely Matt Cort who, perhaps ominously for Fieldsend, is one of his two closest challengers.
Cort, along with his in-form PGA Cup team-mate James Ruth, are on four-under after posting rounds of four and two-under respectively.
They are a shot clear of a quartet comprising the host venue’s Harry Trusler, Ryan Boyns, Ryan O’Neill and Lewis Scott.
In addition to putting a sizeable slice of daylight between himself and his pursuers, Fieldsend’s five-under par was the joint best round of the tournament thus far; sharing the distinction with him were Todd Adcock and Trusler who, understandably, was followed by a substantial and enthusiastic gallery.
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