Steady rise then attack suits joint leader Noren

ALEXANDER Noren is good spirits as he heads into the weekend leading the way with Franceso Molinari at the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open.

Noren could have been clear at the top on his own going into the weekend were it not for a double bogey seven at the 12, but the man from Stockholm rallied admirably with six birdies in his round and an eagle three at the 568 yard sixth.

He said: "My performances on Thursday and Friday have been quite similar. On Thursday, I was really pleased with my putting, but not so pleased with my drives and I tried to correct them. I played really well in the last nine holes and it felt a lot better coming in with a 66 on Friday than the 66 on Thursday.

"My putting was good and that's what caused me to play good and I practised a lot around these greens on the practise days and I feel a lot more comfortable with the speed of the greens."

Noren, who celebrated his 30th birthday on Thursday, was 15th at the French Open last week, and he added: "I played pretty good last week, close to the lead after two rounds then slipped back a little bit on the weekend.

"I knew what I needed around here. If you get your putting going and your short game, you get the easy pars on the long holes then you can attack on the birdies and that was the plan the whole time. Give myself a little more room on the tough holes and make pars and I seem to have done that."

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