John Gough may not be a name you are familiar with but the man ranked 13th in the World Amateur Rankings is in contention to win the Betfred British Masters. The 24-year-old posted a score of one under on day two and is now on five under in total, just one shot behind current leaders Justin Rose and Antoine Rozner.
Last week he finished 27th at the 2023 Amateur Championships but he has been in good form this year, winning the Flogas Irish Men’s Amateur Open Championships in May. Gough has sparkled at the Belfry on the biggest stage of his career, and he is in with an outside shot of doing something seriously special. Betfred price him at 70/1 to win the entire tournament if you fancy a serious upset!
Joint leader Justin Rose looked to have fallen apart over the first nine holes but saved his own skin on the back nine. Three bogies over the first half of the course saw him sink down the standings, but he eventually rescued a poor day with three birdies to finish on one over, and stay in the lead.
He’s joined in P1 by Frenchman Antoine Rozner who enjoyed a special day at the Belfry, posting a score of 68, after his 70 yesterday. Rozner was practically perfect across the 18 to move himself into contention, while there are a whole host of names that lie in wait on five under, including Gough.
James Morrison will hope he can avoid any broken strings over the weekend, while Danish duo Niklas Norgaard and Thorbjorn Olesen have played superbly to take themselves onto five under. Its been a good day for some home favourites too, as Andy Sullivan and Oliver Watson both made steady progress to take themselves up the leaderboard. Meanwhile, Yannik Paul, the young German is also one behind the leaders having enjoyed another good day.
It’s set up for a wonderful weekend of action. Can John Gough pull off the unthinkable?
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