For around five hours Rory McIlroy and three others looked down on the rest of the star-studded field from the top of the leaderboard at the Genesis Scottish Open at The Renaissance Club.
Then, just after 6.30, another name, briefly, appeared. Rasmus Hojgaard, who is playing in an event for the first time since the end of May, moved to six-under thanks to an eagle on the seventh and back-to-back birdies on his back nine, the second created by a fine approach and cooly executed put.
The world No 86 moved into pole position with three holes to play, but the 25-year-old Danish golfer found sand off the tee at 16 before sending his ball into the rough on the opposite side and then he missed the green. A bogey and he’s now back to minus five-under and re-joined the pack.
It consists of South Korean Tom Kim, Austrian golfer, Bernd Wiesberger, Patrick Cantley from America and Northern Ireland star, McIlroy, the world No 2, who claimed birdies on two of his final three holes to move into a tie at the top.
Poised one shot back are five-time Major winner, Brooks Koepka, Min Woo Lee, Michael Thorbjornsen, Kurt Kitayama and Angel Ayora, plus Oliver Lindell and Andrew Novak.
Hojgaard is out at 8.50am on Friday with Spaniard, Jon Rahm, who is on plus three and struggling to make the cut, and Englishman, Alex Fitzpatrick, who is two shots better off on plus one.
Fans of the Northern Irishman will have to wait until 13.43 before McIlroy tees-off with Scottish golfer Robet MacIntyre and Chris Gotterup, the defending champion.
Scottie Scheffler, who is the current world No 1, is on two-under and in a challenging position. He is paired with English duo, Matt Fitzpatrick, ranked No 4 in the world, and Tommy Fleetwood, currently ninth in the world ratings.
TALK IN: Rory McIlroy chatting in the car park outside The Renaissance Club near North Berwick. Picture Nigel Duncan
